A white paper produced by the European Commission in Brussels
suggests radical changes to the way value added tax is applied
to purchases which, if agreed, could see the cost of food
shopping increase by up to 20 percent. In December 2011, the
European Commission (EC) released a consultation document in the
form of a white paper suggesting a new system for value added
tax (VAT – technically a sales tax) across European Union member
states. The press release accompanying the publication of that
white paper suggests that : Broadening tax bases and limiting
the use of reduced rates could generate new revenue for Member
States without the need for rate increases. The standard VAT
rate could even be reduced in some Member States, without any
impact on revenue, if exemptions and reductions were removed.
Currently in the UK unprocessed food stuffs such as raw meat,
vegetables, flour, nuts (in their shells), pulses and some
bakery products such as cake and certain breads, including
McVitie’s Jaffa Cakes which were th