Receipts to show stealth taxes
September 7, 2009
A scheme has been launched by some U.K. businesses in a bid to show consumers how much of their bill is the result of taxes. The transparency will also make it more difficult for the government to increase stealth taxes without consumers knowing.
Michael Van Clarke, who was once hairstylist to the Princess of Wales, says that he has started to give his customers full tax receipting when they visit his salon. He says that many are shocked when they see just how much money is going to the treasury. He says that an average cut at his salon doesn’t look quite as expensive when you see that almost 50% of the bill has to be paid to the government.
Since Labour took office in 1997 the total amount of money going to the treasury’s coffers from tax has risen from £315.7 billion to somewhere in the region of £530.7 billion. According to The Institute for Fiscal Studies there have been over 200 increases in taxes since 1997.
Some have commented that because of the complexities of working out some of the taxes and their relationship to overall earnings it might be difficult to offer customers completely accurate statements.
Not surprisingly a number of conservative MPs have welcomed the move to make taxes more transparent. Shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, Phil Hammond has said that he would welcome moves to show the public the true extent of the tax burden and points out that he thinks many people would be surprised to see that after operational costs and tax supermarkets are only left with 2-3% profit.
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