Happy 50th birthday VAT! - 1st April 2023!
Discussion
Eric Mc said:
VAT was brought in because it was a condition of joining the (then) EEC. Now that we are out, can't we abolish it?
I always thought it was a renaming of the Sales Tax which had been around since the 40s.Either way, it is one of those oddities that we've just become used to. Almost all of my clients are public sector; the 'government'. I receive from them VAT that I add to my invoices. I then give them that money back every three months, minus any VAT I've paid on goods or services where my suppliers will pay that back to them instead of me. If someone got up in Parliament and suggested this now, they'd be taken off for a good talking to.
StevieBee said:
I always thought it was a renaming of the Sales Tax which had been around since the 40s.
Either way, it is one of those oddities that we've just become used to. Almost all of my clients are public sector; the 'government'. I receive from them VAT that I add to my invoices. I then give them that money back every three months, minus any VAT I've paid on goods or services where my suppliers will pay that back to them instead of me. If someone got up in Parliament and suggested this now, they'd be taken off for a good talking to.
It REPLACED the old Sales Tax. Sales Tax did not have the Charge and Reclaim system that exists in VAT. It was only charged to the final retail customer. It was a much simpler system.Either way, it is one of those oddities that we've just become used to. Almost all of my clients are public sector; the 'government'. I receive from them VAT that I add to my invoices. I then give them that money back every three months, minus any VAT I've paid on goods or services where my suppliers will pay that back to them instead of me. If someone got up in Parliament and suggested this now, they'd be taken off for a good talking to.
It was discontinued because we HAD to implement VAT on entry into the EEC.
Gassing Station | News, Politics & Economics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff