VAT isn't just on luxuries, although I am old enough to remember that that was how it was introduced to us way back when (at a rate of about 8%, which the Tories lost no time in raising, so that they could cut income tax - a clear case of the poor subsidising the rich).
Waitrose are one of the few shops where one buys everyday goods that make it clear (on the till receipt), which items carry VAT and the total of VAT paid. So such things as cat food attract VAT - ok, a "luxury", but many old people would be lost without their cats, and it is said that cat owners live longer than non cat-owners, i.e. there is a social good in cat-owning. Similarly, pure fruit juice attracts VAT at the same rate as Coca-Cola, although most people would probably think the former is better for people than the latter, so I wonder about the joined-up thinking here, since the government believes it is encouraging us to be healthy. (As it happens, I disagree about fruit juice, but that's for another place). Hot food has been VAT-able for years (the logic being that a service has been provided, so it's value has been added-to, presumably...another questionable assumption!).
I wish that everyone was fully aware of exactly how much VAT they paid....e.g. kiddies on their sweets, etc (ok, maybe that is justified on health grounds, but they (and their parents) should be fully aware - I doubt if many are.
I find it very hard to believe that the admin costs of changing VAT are really going to be that much, and it's not something that's going to change again every 5 minutes. What I do expect though is for it to be used as a way of sneaking in crafty price increases which will not be detectable by most people.
Housing market - Do we really want to "get this going again"? There was an insane bubble in housing over the last decade or so. My son and his partner, both in good jobs with savings in the bank, still cannot get on the housing ladder in our area (or anywhere near), even after prices are supposed to have been coming down. Not round here they are not, and I hear similar in other areas. This can't be right. My wife and I, with similar jobs earning similar salaries (adjusted for inflation) thirty years ago, were each able to get on the housing ladder, on our individual earnings alone. Something has gone badly wrong. The way my son puts it is that his generation have been royally screwed over by our generation, and I think he is not far wrong.
