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March 23rd, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda - Bakery chain’s share price plunged by 5 per cent yesterday
- Take-away tax will add 18p to price of a 90p hot sausage roll
- People of Cornwall horrified and fear impact on pasty industry
By
Sean Poulter and Rupert Steiner
18:10 EST, 22 March 2012
|
18:10 EST, 22 March 2012
One of Britain’s biggest bakery chains saw £30million wiped off its value yesterday following George Osborne’s decision to put VAT on hot take-out food.
Greggs, which has branches across the country, saw its share price plunge by 5 per cent over the plan to add the 20 per cent sales tax to sausage rolls, pasties and pies.
The take-away tax will add 18p to the price of a 90p hot sausage roll, 50p to a medium Cornish pasty and £1 to a supermarket rotisserie chicken.
Greggs, which has branches across the country, saw its share price plunge by 5 per cent over the plan to add the 20 per cent sales tax to sausage rolls, pasties and pies
The move is a hammer blow to Greggs and has also horrified the people of Cornwall, who fear the impact on a pasty industry worth more than £150million a year to the county.
Greggs, which is worth £555million and employs 20,000, and the leading supermarkets have made clear it will fight the proposals. Its shares fell 5.37 per cent yesterday, down 29.50p to 519.75p.
Tax accountants say the Chancellor’s new VAT rules, which apply from October 1, are bound to trigger a series of expensive court cases.
George Osborne said the rules would simplify the tax system and put everyone selling hot food on the same footing as fast food chains
George Osborne said the rules would simplify the tax system and put everyone selling hot food on the same footing as fast food chains.
In reality, layers of complexity have been added which could even require a system of inspections to establish whether sausage rolls are hot when handed over at the till.
Guidance notes issued by Whitehall to cover the proposals introduce a series of anomalies that will trigger a fierce row between retailers and the Government. The new regime means that, in theory, every food item that is hotter than the surrounding ambient air temperature will be liable for 20 per cent VAT.
In the high street, this means a hot sausage roll or Cornish pasty carries VAT but a cold one does not.
Councillors in Cornwall said the tax attack would hit jobs and the pockets of residents and workers.
Liberal
Democrat Alex Folkes said: ‘Pasties aren’t just a symbol of Cornwall,
they are a key part of our manufacturing economy and thousands of people
in Cornwall are employed either directly or indirectly by the pasty
industry.
‘Raising the price
of pasties, especially when the extra money goes to the Government, not
the firms, will cut sales and lead to job losses.’
Mebyon Kernow councillor Rob Simmons wrote on his blog: ‘If and when this legislation is introduced, your £2.50 medium steak pasty will now be £3, and your £3 large steak pasty will be £3.60. So that’s money out of ordinary decent Cornish folks’ pockets, a blow to our bakers and hardly great news for tourism.’
One insider at a ‘big four’ supermarket described the proposals as ‘comical’. ‘If you take the proposals at face value, you could have a queue of people wanting a freshly baked sausage roll with someone at the front paying VAT because it is hot and someone at the back paying less because it is cold,’ he said.
Horrified: The people of Cornwall fear impact on a pasty industry worth more than £150million a year to the county
The proposals also include a VAT exemption for freshly baked bread, which is still warm when it is purchased. The insider said: ‘This leaves the door open for enormous confusion over what is classified as freshly baked bread. Does a hot croissant carry VAT or not?’
He added: ‘Many people come to our stores for a good value hot pastry to take away for lunch. The very last thing people need in the current climate is a new tax on food.’
Most of the main coffee shop chains already add VAT to their hot food, however even they could have to put up the price of a 99p croissant to £1.20 if it does not qualify as freshly baked bread.
Stephen Coleclough, tax partner at PwC, said: ‘The Government is trying to remove anomalies but has only introduced new ones which will no doubt lead to yet more litigation which is the one thing the Government is trying to avoid.
‘Bizarrely, products with freshly baked bread aren’t caught in the net. Batten down the hatches for the first court case on the legal definition of “freshly-baked”.’
Many small corner shops, which have diversified into offering hot savoury pastries to boost takings, will be caught by the new rules.
James Lowman, of the Association of Convenience Stores, said: ‘We urge the Chancellor to think about bringing more products out of VAT to make them cheaper for consumers, rather than taxing more goods on retailers’ shelves.’
Richard Dodd, of the British Retail Consortium, which speaks for supermarkets, said: ‘This proposal will push up prices for hard-pressed customers.’
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So I buy one cold sausage roll to eat tomorrow, buy a hot one to eat on the way home and I pay two different prices !!!! Just when I stop laughing I then read about the hot bread scenario. Osborne – you cannot be serious. WHAT A TRULY SCREWED UP NATION.
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Eat salads instead of hot pasties and other foods?
If people swapped hot pastries for salads the next budget will tax cold salads!
The Governmebt is only interested in money, money, money.
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Oh dear, this budget is going to cost the coalition the votes of pensioners, new 40% taxpayers, pie-eaters and many other and let in ZaNuLiebour… Red Ed and Bawls probably can’t believe their incredible good fortune…
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We are an obese nation=tax the pies
We are a binge drinking nation=minimum drink prices
We are an aging nation=tax the grannies
Bullying policies=We are a whinging nation
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Seems to me a simple solution would be to just sell cold products to the public, then supply a row of self service micro waves, programmed to heat up the items before you leave. Boy am I glad I have decided not to return to the UK over spent by one bunch and over taxed by the next crew.
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Marie Antoinette did not actually say “Let them eat cake” that was revolutionary propaganda!
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Remember what happen before Georgie porgy, pudding and pie.??????? Someone said let them eat cake.!!!
and i think you know, what came next,???
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As a pensioner, Is it worth becoming VAT registered so I can claim all the VAT back?
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So if the loaf I buy off the shelf in the supermarket is still warm, does this too get charged at the higher vat rate…
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I’m sorry, why would the government there tax FOOD!? I find that outrageous and at 20%, completely ridiculous, food is too expensive as it is. Just like our inept government here in the US, they need to learn to balance a budget, just like all of us commoners!
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