Victory!!! Pasty tax: U-turn 'a shambles' says Labour

holymonk · 29 May 2012 at 12:31

osborne is a disgrace

Hatter The Mad · 29 May 2012 at 12:34

chriscubed said:
Shame, I thought it was a good idea to unify the taxation on hot served food.

Quite fancy a pasty now though! Spec me a pasty!

postbox said:
There was a bit on the radio this morning which highlighted the complexity of the tax in day to day use. MP was asked would Microwaving your own pasty at a service station incur VAT? MP couldn't answer, which bodes well.

Indeed

Freefaller · 29 May 2012 at 12:36

realBabelfish said:
what other options of a warm snack on a cold day do we have? fish and chips? burgers?

there arent too many healthy warm options.

some of us arent fat and dont overdo it. should we all be penalised? (im playing devil's advocate as i rarely have pastry but i will defend my rights not to be taxed for a warm snack)

It was only meant in jest.

Besides, paying tax for food that is prepared and supposed to be warm makes no odds to me. There are plenty of healthy options, unfortunately the quick food market doesn't offer it. People want cheap and quick food, healthy foods often come second place.

Bear · 29 May 2012 at 12:37

Have I missed something ? The tax is still there on hot pasties, all they have done is clarified the ambiguities caused by the cooling down etc.

Hatter The Mad · 29 May 2012 at 12:38

Bear said:
Have I missed something ? The tax is still there on hot pasties, all they have done is clarified the ambiguities caused by the cooling down etc.

For some reason, the VAT on hot pasties was not at the full rate whereas other hot takeaway food is. So they planned to clear it up, which would have resulted in pasties carrying full rate. It wasn't a tax on pasties - it was a side-affect.

Now they have backtracked and have left the loophole in the tax code largely because the country is full of plebs driven by The Sun and the Daily Mail.

Irish_Tom · 29 May 2012 at 13:54

It's all a bit of a fuss isn't it.

It seems to me that out of everything in the budget, this was one of the least controversial and yet the media have turned it into a massive issue.

From the government's perspective; £65m is a drop in the ocean and if they U-turn on these two measures, it draws attention away from the bigger items like the top rate of tax and the so called 'granny tax'.