Submitted on Friday 5th August 2011
Rejected on Wednesday 21st June 2017
Current status: Rejected
Rejection code: duplicate (see below for details)
Call for Common Sense on Food VAT Pricing (e.g. Innocent Smoothies)
Under current British tax rules, consumers pay no VAT on "essential" foods and drinks but must pay 17.5% on "luxury" items such as smoothies, ice cream, and "gingerbread men decorated with chocolate unless this amounts to no more than a couple of dots for eyes".
The set of rules which dictates whether a product is taxed or not was created in 1973. It is archaic, arbitrary, and unfair.
For example, smoothies - which contain fruit and help people live more healthily - are subject to VAT at full rate when junk food such as burgers, chips and doughnuts are sold tax-free.
We request that the government makes HMRC take a closer look at its taxation on foods. This should create a more modern, clearer, and fairer tax system which takes into account the externalities associated with the consumption of all major food products.
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The Government e-Petitions Team gave the following reason:
There's already a petition about this issue. We cannot accept a new petition when we already have one about a very similar issue.
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18.227.46.202 Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:55:07 +0000
