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That problem with this video is now I'm hungry and can't decide between cookies (A US biscuit), cake, or Pringles. I may be forced to eat all three and will have to lay the blame on *TIFO,* rather than accept responsibility for my own lack of self control. Great video Simon and crew, thank you.
*Dsdcain* The problem with this video is that it came out during Passover, and the only way I can have either is by grinding up Matzo, making a batter or dough out of it, and baking it. And, if it doesn't sound very appealing to you, well, that's because it isn't. (Thank goodness GSoA moved their Girl Scout cookie sale to earlier in the year.)
American biscuits I tend to classify more as "scones", however an American biscuit is bit more dense and tastes more savoury to our lighter, slightly sweeter scones. In the UK we don't have a direct alternative to American biscuits.
I'm glad Pringles lost their case because it's a whole lot of stupid to call it a cake, but a Jaffa cake is definitely a cake and not just technically a cake.
If you make them thick enough to hold up candles, they would be very hard to chew. You could, however make the bottom layers hollow, and, as the cake is being assembled, insert a Tupperware container of Pringles.
American here, who was fortunate enough to have one of those once, and is quite annoyed they're not sold in the U.S. Whatever a person wants to call them, they're criminally tasty.
I'm sure you should be able to get your hands on them somewhere. The people I often stay with in Virginia always manage to find the most obscure English foodstuff for me.....perhaps they've got magic elves however...Although my favourite Jaffa cake is generally an ASDA one and they're owned by Walmart so you never know.
A biscuit comes from the French meaning "twice baked". It was the word used for what in English is called "Hard Tack". Hard Tack is a bread made for long distance travel, primarily on ships. It is made with water, flour, and little to no oil/fats then baked twice to reduce the chances of spoiling over months of travel. When settlers got to the US they still made this hard tack but they started to stop baking it twice, added fats like milk/buttermilk/butter and the like turning it into a savory bread often used as a part of breakfast with a cream gravy (based on French Bechamel Sauce) or with jelly/jam. The British for some reason took the same word, stopped baking it twice and started adding fats and sugar to make a dessert. Miniature cake like objects that the US calls cookies which is from the Dutch for "little cakes". So in summary, biscuits for the UK are cookies which means they are all little cakes.
Polish shops have nicer jaffa cakes than UK ones. In my opinion. They also a wider range of similar cakes like blueberry, apricot and ones with white chocolate and strawberry jam.
The cake/biscuit distinction was a plot point in one of Jasper Fforde's Nursery Crime novels, where the question of whether the Gingerbread Man was a cake or a biscuit turned out to be crucial.
Biscuits are considered staples in the uk, given to soldiers fighting wars, provided as go-to refreshment in emergency situations etc. However ridiculous you find that, chocolate covered ones ARE more luxurious, more expensive to make and to buy.
Eastern Europe have their own version of Jaffa Cakes, called Delicje in Poland. They are available in different flavours, which can be a shock to the tastebuds when you eat the first one and are hit with strawberry instead of the orange you expected. As a Brit it pains me to have to admit it, but I find the orange Delicje is superior to the Jaffa Cake. :'( Luckily they sometimes appear in the "foreign foods" isle at my local supermarket.
We have clones of these cakes/biscuits in Russia! I don't particularity like them myself, but I appreciate them, I understand why many people like them.
As an american i was able to get a hold of some jaffa cakes on a trip to europe and i can confirm to my fellow mericans that yes they are delicious its not just a british thing
I live in the high-tax (and confusing-tax) state of Illinois. Fresh grapes are taxed at one rate, grape juice at a different rate, grape wine at a different rate, grape vodka at a different rate, a magazine about grapes at different rate, and a book about grapes at still another rate. Plus, all the rates can vary from one county to another, and one town to another. This is big government: Politicians start out with one plan which anyone can understand and then carve out exceptions for one (voting) group after another until nobody can understand it. PS - Illinois is deep in debt and going broke because in Illinois the purpose of taxes isn't to raise revenue.
kind of reminds me of a time I made "black and white cookies" at a bakery they were essential the tops of cupcakes cut off and dipped into half chocolate icing/vanilla icing... they were delicious though
Strictly speaking it isn't a "jam" inside, it is a marmalade as it is made from a citrus fruit. Now make a TIFO about the difference between jam and marmalade.
... There's a similar snack called "Choco Pie" in Korea that's basically two Jaffa Cake sandwiched with marshmallow cream. There's an old tradition of poor single people stacking a whole box of this... "Pie" on their birthday and putting a single candle on top, calling it "Sad Cake". >):'^c
What do we eat when traveling in Great Britain? Pringles and Jaffa Cakes. I don't remember if I had to pay VAT. My dad, a health-nut since the 70s, eats Toblerone bars. None of these things would he eat here in the US. We get Pringles when going to the beach and Pims cookies which are the closest things to Jaffa Cakes you can get in the US.
they are called Pims here in the USA. they come in orange & raspberry we call them cookies. . so yummy. I swear I am only going to eat two. next thing I know the package is gone!
Ho ho, Pringles doesn't pay the VAT, they just pass it along in the price of the crisps, and the consumer pays the price including all of the pancaked VAT's.
Maybe Pringles should have taken a page from McVitties. Bake a giant, cake-sized pringle chip and try to pass it off as a cake. Except, when they try to cut into it, it'd just fall apart...
@Nathan Watts-- So, according to you, non-transgendered women (cisgendered women) are supposed to just "free bleed" down their leg for five days each month? Riiiiiight. Your bigotry and misogyny are showing and it's ugly.
I used to go through a couple of packets of Jaffa Cakes a day. Boy, do I miss their delicious yumminess now. Nothing even close to that good in the US. :-(
The question is wth the only ones I can find on the shelves are orange flavoured? In my country we have at least 10 different filling flavours and chocolate coatings. My favourite are blueberry jam with white chocolate top.
Hello Simon, would you consider making a video of how you make your videos? I'd like to know how you do your research, how you prepare for the recording and the editing too. What do you think?
Another side effect of the decision was that McVities couldn't hold onto the copyright for the name "Jaffa Cakes" since it was now the name of a recipe and recipes can't be patented so now any company that produces orange sponge biscuits may call them Jaffa Cakes.
Its quite easy really a biscuit goes soft when left out a cake goes hard when left out and a Jaffa cake goes hard therefore a Jaffa cake is indeed a cake
So Vat is added 20% on every ongoing sale? like they are doing with original artwork now? So if something is sold five times the original vat is over 100% of the original price?
I would think it more prudent to ask why cake was exempt in the first place, as opposed to biscuits. Because ultimately this is a question of what to tax, not a deeper search into the nebulous realm of food terminology. My guess is that because cake is generally a bakery item that isn't eaten daily or a snack, it wouldn't be lumped in with candies and biscuits. If that were the case, the jaffa cakes would definitely fall into the biscuit category. I've had plenty of stale cookies and biscuits so no idea what that even is supposed to prove.
There is an inaccuracy in this video. Food is mostly zero-rated for VAT, not exempt. Exempt and zero-rated are different things. Although in both cases there is no VAT charged to the consumer, in the case of zero-rating the businesses in the supply chain can reclaim VAT paid on costs, whereas in the case of exempt items they cannot.
In Canada, we have a very close "cousin" of the Jaffa Cake ... it's a "Digestive" biscuit covered in chocolate. SOME times, they put a bit of jam in the centre, but not often. We also have 'Viva Puffs" but these are not near the same, as they are 75% marshmallow.
VAT definition in video is wrong. VAT is in reality paid only by end consumers. From video - if company makes cookies, it must pay VAT on sales, but can deduct VAT it paid on raw materials. Same goes for stores - they add VAT to products but deduct VAT that they paid to manufacturers.
V.A.T is a terrible regressive tax.. So, the fact it is less avoidable than a general sales tax is not a point in it's favour imo. The input tax credit aspect of it, to avoid double taxation at every stage of production, requires burdensome bureaucratic oversight, so businesses still benefit from vertical integration to avoid this, so it also promotes market consolidation and monopoly. Stop taxing productive behaviour and tax idle speculation #LVT
It is absurd that people defend a system clearly designed to extract as much money as possible while exploiting natural human perception limitations. Taxes are ultimately just supposed to fund things, not a grand exercise in taking money from people as creatively and convoluted as possible.
Usually one considers cake to be a luxury... it's odd that it's exempt from a luxury tax like VAT. Seems like the court could solve a lot of cases simply by correcting that classification :)
Nothing in the UK is vat exempt. There is a 0% rate that some non-luxury items fall under. This is an important difference because 0 rate can be changed to 5, 10 or more % at any time that the government wishes to while vat exempt will always be vat exempt.
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McVities should make a new line of ‘Jaffa Biscuits’ just to throw a spanner in the works.
I’m sure the majority of British people would call a wrench a spanner too.
Where does "hydro-spanner" come from (SW reference)
Eightminutesupsidedown it will be the size of a cake and really crumbley
They should call them Jaffa Cookies to add some confusion.
Eightminutesupsidedown 😄😄
That problem with this video is now I'm hungry and can't decide between cookies (A US biscuit), cake, or Pringles. I may be forced to eat all three and will have to lay the blame on *TIFO,* rather than accept responsibility for my own lack of self control. Great video Simon and crew, thank you.
You should try researching these things. Sooooo hungry by the end ;-)
*Dsdcain* The problem with this video is that it came out during Passover, and the only way I can have either is by grinding up Matzo, making a batter or dough out of it, and baking it. And, if it doesn't sound very appealing to you, well, that's because it isn't. (Thank goodness GSoA moved their Girl Scout cookie sale to earlier in the year.)
Hey Simon, Daven & friends ...you call ( our idea of ) "cookies" "biscuits". But what do you call ( our idea of ) biscuits? Rolls?
American biscuits I tend to classify more as "scones", however an American biscuit is bit more dense and tastes more savoury to our lighter, slightly sweeter scones. In the UK we don't have a direct alternative to American biscuits.
Thanks Dan :]
Fun fact, because of the high sugar content, Subway's 'bread' is actually considered to be CAKE.
I'm glad Pringles lost their case because it's a whole lot of stupid to call it a cake, but a Jaffa cake is definitely a cake and not just technically a cake.
I always thought Jaffa cake was what the Goa'uld fed their servants....
Surely it would be weird not to in a video about UK tax law presented by a British person?
wight1984 I actually didn't have time to watch. Just saw Jaffa and made a stargate joke.
Niche gag. Love it.
Jaffa...Kree!
If it goes hard when left out - cake
If it goes soft when left out - biscuit
I want my next birthday cake to be made from solid Pringle® material.
Julius von Brunk ewww dude that would be a super weird texture what flavor tho ? 😂
its gotta be their Pringles® Nissin Top Ramen® Chicken
No you don't
If you make them thick enough to hold up candles, they would be very hard to chew. You could, however make the bottom layers hollow, and, as the cake is being assembled, insert a Tupperware container of Pringles.
Prignle material. Hahaha
American here, who was fortunate enough to have one of those once, and is quite annoyed they're not sold in the U.S. Whatever a person wants to call them, they're criminally tasty.
I'm sure you should be able to get your hands on them somewhere. The people I often stay with in Virginia always manage to find the most obscure English foodstuff for me.....perhaps they've got magic elves however...Although my favourite Jaffa cake is generally an ASDA one and they're owned by Walmart so you never know.
Try Lidl’s or Aldi’s they do they own under a fake brand Lidl’s is Sonaday
Plot twist- It’s actually a donut
But doughnuts are cakes. Unless they're bagels, which are bread.
Plot Twist: Its a vegetable
Or a doughnut even....come on, it's English.
That's no moon....sorry, couldn't resists.
It’s interesting to see how Simon over time has become more and more energetic / funny on the main show :D
A biscuit comes from the French meaning "twice baked". It was the word used for what in English is called "Hard Tack". Hard Tack is a bread made for long distance travel, primarily on ships. It is made with water, flour, and little to no oil/fats then baked twice to reduce the chances of spoiling over months of travel. When settlers got to the US they still made this hard tack but they started to stop baking it twice, added fats like milk/buttermilk/butter and the like turning it into a savory bread often used as a part of breakfast with a cream gravy (based on French Bechamel Sauce) or with jelly/jam. The British for some reason took the same word, stopped baking it twice and started adding fats and sugar to make a dessert. Miniature cake like objects that the US calls cookies which is from the Dutch for "little cakes".
So in summary, biscuits for the UK are cookies which means they are all little cakes.
Polish shops have nicer jaffa cakes than UK ones. In my opinion. They also a wider range of similar cakes like blueberry, apricot and ones with white chocolate and strawberry jam.
The cake/biscuit distinction was a plot point in one of Jasper Fforde's Nursery Crime novels, where the question of whether the Gingerbread Man was a cake or a biscuit turned out to be crucial.
My main question is: Why are chocolate covered cakes exempt from VAT but not chocolate covered biscuits?
OneOnOne1162 because logic.
Biscuits are considered staples in the uk, given to soldiers fighting wars, provided as go-to refreshment in emergency situations etc. However ridiculous you find that, chocolate covered ones ARE more luxurious, more expensive to make and to buy.
@@rachstone9491 And the fact that chocolate requires processing.
The fact that Jaffa Cake cakes exist convinces me that it's a biscuit.
Exactly. They have Jaffa cake bars so the original thing must be biscuits
No it’s a cake they do opposite of biscuits when out of date. Jaffa cake cake is just a Jaffa cake in a larger size
Never had a Jaffa Cake but I have had Pim's cookies by Lu. Sounds the same. And they are delicious!
I think the most surprising thing is that they left out 12 Jaffa cakes and they didn’t get eaten. A thing I’ve never heard of.
If it is sponge, it's a cake. Plain and simple.
M FROM INDIA BUT HAVE EATEN JAFFA CAKES SINCE MY CHILDHOOD AND I LOVE IT . THEY ARE SOLD HERE BY LOTTE
Eastern Europe have their own version of Jaffa Cakes, called Delicje in Poland. They are available in different flavours, which can be a shock to the tastebuds when you eat the first one and are hit with strawberry instead of the orange you expected.
As a Brit it pains me to have to admit it, but I find the orange Delicje is superior to the Jaffa Cake. :'(
Luckily they sometimes appear in the "foreign foods" isle at my local supermarket.
living in Prague I have become addicted to the sour cherry flavor
Simon's an expat in Czech land (or whatever they've renamed it to this year!). He should give them a test.
Bonus fact. Pringles are shaped the way they are so the production line can run faster.
I'm not even kidding, this is the only video I watched today that isn't an April Fools video.
And because of 'Today I Found Out', I learned that the inventor of the Pringles can was cremated and buried in a Pringles can!
We have clones of these cakes/biscuits in Russia! I don't particularity like them myself, but I appreciate them, I understand why many people like them.
I don't mind calling it anything as long as I can eat it
As an american i was able to get a hold of some jaffa cakes on a trip to europe and i can confirm to my fellow mericans that yes they are delicious its not just a british thing
I live in the high-tax (and confusing-tax) state of Illinois. Fresh grapes are taxed at one rate, grape juice at a different rate, grape wine at a different rate, grape vodka at a different rate, a magazine about grapes at different rate, and a book about grapes at still another rate. Plus, all the rates can vary from one county to another, and one town to another.
This is big government: Politicians start out with one plan which anyone can understand and then carve out exceptions for one (voting) group after another until nobody can understand it.
PS - Illinois is deep in debt and going broke because in Illinois the purpose of taxes isn't to raise revenue.
Never thought I would spend so much of my life watching a video about out of state taxes.
If it falls on your foot and breaks it, Biscuit injury! If it falls on your foot and DOESEN'T break it, cake bounce!;)
kind of reminds me of a time I made "black and white cookies" at a bakery they were essential the tops of cupcakes cut off and dipped into half chocolate icing/vanilla icing... they were delicious though
you guys have some very excellent authors/contibutors
Strictly speaking it isn't a "jam" inside, it is a marmalade as it is made from a citrus fruit. Now make a TIFO about the difference between jam and marmalade.
AND make mention of the fact that marmalades in Britain often use the bitter Seville orange, while US marmalades are not bitter.
... There's a similar snack called "Choco Pie" in Korea that's basically two Jaffa Cake sandwiched with marshmallow cream.
There's an old tradition of poor single people stacking a whole box of this... "Pie" on their birthday and putting a single candle on top, calling it "Sad Cake". >):'^c
Cakes go hard when stale, biscuits go soft.
It is simple, biscuits go soft and cakes go hard if left out in the open for a while.
While this may have been a vicious court battle at the time, it sounds just quaint (and delicious) to my American ears.
Taxing a product during production, distribution, and consumption? That's how revolutions start.
What do we eat when traveling in Great Britain? Pringles and Jaffa Cakes. I don't remember if I had to pay VAT. My dad, a health-nut since the 70s, eats Toblerone bars. None of these things would he eat here in the US. We get Pringles when going to the beach and Pims cookies which are the closest things to Jaffa Cakes you can get in the US.
This was a plot point in a Nursery Crime novel about the Gingerbread Man.
they are called Pims here in the USA. they come in orange & raspberry we call them cookies. . so yummy. I swear I am only going to eat two. next thing I know the package is gone!
It's important to clarify to Americans that biscuits in UK are what we call cookies here.
we call cookies cookies and anything that isn't a cookie is a biscuit. ( cookie being the chips ahoy thing)
Tristissimvs Hominvm
Then what are what Americans call 'biscuits' called in the UK?
The UK doesn't really have US biscuits. The closest thing is scones which can be savoury or sweet.
This isn't important to mention. Different country, different things. Not a big deal.
_"Then what are what Americans call 'biscuits' called in the UK?"_
Similar to Yorkshire puddings. Which are not a form of pudding.
Ho ho, Pringles doesn't pay the VAT, they just pass it along in the price of the crisps, and the consumer pays the price including all of the pancaked VAT's.
I didn't realize the Jaffa from Star Gate SG-1 had setup a bake shop in England making Jaffa cakes.
"SHULVA CREE!" You're awesome if you know this jaffa reference.
Maybe Pringles should have taken a page from McVitties. Bake a giant, cake-sized pringle chip and try to pass it off as a cake.
Except, when they try to cut into it, it'd just fall apart...
I love Pringles chips, but whoever decided to try to have them classified as cake can heck off. That's how good things get ruined for everyone!
So Pringles are cakes and cakes are biscuits, and biscuits are also cookies. I think I got it now
Is it a coincidence that the person talking about Jaffa cakes here is named Simon?
I think not
Forbidden Temptations Honeydew
I did a great impression of a drooling Homer Simpson when you bought up the 12 inch Jaffa cake.
Yes, you did hear him correctly, apparently tampons and sanitary pads are not "essential" I too question this every time I hear it
well not Essential to you unless you're an Aussie Shiela named adam.
@Nathan Watts-- So, according to you, non-transgendered women (cisgendered women) are supposed to just "free bleed" down their leg for five days each month? Riiiiiight. Your bigotry and misogyny are showing and it's ugly.
Nathan Watts well there not essential to me but I still don't understand why the government say they're not essential for anyone
Nathan Watts also you made me laugh for like 2 minutes and I tried to think of something funny to say back but my mind went blank haha
calichef1962 Well, you can live without them right?
The fight is based on a odd premise. Why is a chocolate covered biscuit, or potato chip, taxed as a luxury but a *cake* is not?
I used to go through a couple of packets of Jaffa Cakes a day. Boy, do I miss their delicious yumminess now. Nothing even close to that good in the US. :-(
Not being British, this sounded like a really long April fool’s day joke
If you can't put gravy on it, it's not a biscuit.
ThatAussieGirl have you ever had biscuits and gravy?
People in Europe call cookies *biscuits*
Random Things Yet another reason I’m glad we kicked them out of our country. Biscuits are biscuits and cookies are cookies, dammit.
I've taken to ordering (McVities) Jaffa cakes shipped to my US home. A little expensive (cough) but addictive. Something about that orange jelly.
Oh dang I wanted to comment the Pringles thing and look cool. Great video!
Ditto. I was already typing it, when they got to the bonus fact section and ruined my day.
We have something similar in Canada, called Pims.
Might be worthwhile pointing out that a “biscuit” is, essentially, what Americans would call a cookie.
Mcvities left a bunch of Jaffa cakes out in open and five minutes they were all gone is how that story really ended.
Oh lord, I MISS Jaffa Cakes! No place around here sells them very often, or at all.
The question is wth the only ones I can find on the shelves are orange flavoured?
In my country we have at least 10 different filling flavours and chocolate coatings.
My favourite are blueberry jam with white chocolate top.
Cakes are more luxury than biscuits.
I am from the US and I LOVE the Jaffa Cake!!!!
That was a great video, thanks! ^_^
Hello Simon, would you consider making a video of how you make your videos? I'd like to know how you do your research, how you prepare for the recording and the editing too. What do you think?
As any fule knos they are cakes as cakes go hard when as they go stake, whilst a biscuit goes soft it's that simple. This was sorted out years ago.
What? Britt pay 25% VAT? That's outrageous!
Nice try Pringles, calling yourself a cake to get out of paying outrageous taxes.
Another side effect of the decision was that McVities couldn't hold onto the copyright for the name "Jaffa Cakes" since it was now the name of a recipe and recipes can't be patented so now any company that produces orange sponge biscuits may call them Jaffa Cakes.
Love em,
Could do a whole box.......
Only 10 in a fucking pack now, cheap jaffa cakes were always better anyway
not always. Tesco value jaffa cakes are shite.
Isn't _everything_ in Tesco shite, though?
well the value line certainly is a bag of shite...
That'll be because Tesco is shite...try ASDA or Lidl
Sacrilege.
Its quite easy really a biscuit goes soft when left out a cake goes hard when left out and a Jaffa cake goes hard therefore a Jaffa cake is indeed a cake
Best snacks ever.
We were debating this at work. I won because I already new of the court case. It was at that point I realised I needed to get a life.
They're cake; cake it says it in their name. They are made of cake, that is a clue. Cake, Jaffa Cake. Cake.
So Vat is added 20% on every ongoing sale? like they are doing with original artwork now? So if something is sold five times the original vat is over 100% of the original price?
How are chocolate covered biscuits more of a "luxury" item than a chocolate covered cake?
Value Added Tax is an absurd idea to begin with.
I’m Canadian. I love Jaffa Cakes.
I would think it more prudent to ask why cake was exempt in the first place, as opposed to biscuits. Because ultimately this is a question of what to tax, not a deeper search into the nebulous realm of food terminology. My guess is that because cake is generally a bakery item that isn't eaten daily or a snack, it wouldn't be lumped in with candies and biscuits. If that were the case, the jaffa cakes would definitely fall into the biscuit category.
I've had plenty of stale cookies and biscuits so no idea what that even is supposed to prove.
I love that we don’t tax food in the USA. I am kind of shocked by VAT. Seems really bad on consumers and manufactures.
Well, I always wondered what VAT was. I do a lot of reading of books set in England.
It is cake it even has cake in the name.
Where can I get one of those 12 inch Jaffa Cakes?
I always buy Jaffa cakes for Thanksgiving. :)
Fun fact: in the surivior canon of tomb raider, lara croft is obsessed with jaffa cakes
Fun video today!
There is an inaccuracy in this video. Food is mostly zero-rated for VAT, not exempt. Exempt and zero-rated are different things. Although in both cases there is no VAT charged to the consumer, in the case of zero-rating the businesses in the supply chain can reclaim VAT paid on costs, whereas in the case of exempt items they cannot.
Over time cake goes hard and biscuits go soft.
Yeah right as if either last long enough for that to happen. They both turn to crumbs and guilt.
Now I'm going to have to go to the shops to get a pack of jaffa cakes....
I am Canadian, and I go to our local import shop to buy Jaffa Cakes. I blame my English Great Grandmother for introducing them to me, lol.
Tardisntimbits - I can buy them at Loblaws in Ontario, but they don't always have them.
Who created the pizza box?/ When did people start delivering pizza in boxes?
In Canada, we have a very close "cousin" of the Jaffa Cake ... it's a "Digestive" biscuit covered in chocolate.
SOME times, they put a bit of jam in the centre, but not often.
We also have 'Viva Puffs" but these are not near the same, as they are 75% marshmallow.
Jaffa cakes sound amazing. I wish those were in the u.s.
I'm just going to mention how absurd the VAT tax is... Jeez that is slot of triple dipping on taxation...
VAT definition in video is wrong. VAT is in reality paid only by end consumers. From video - if company makes cookies, it must pay VAT on sales, but can deduct VAT it paid on raw materials. Same goes for stores - they add VAT to products but deduct VAT that they paid to manufacturers.
V.A.T is a terrible regressive tax.. So, the fact it is less avoidable than a general sales tax is not a point in it's favour imo.
The input tax credit aspect of it, to avoid double taxation at every stage of production, requires burdensome bureaucratic oversight, so businesses still benefit from vertical integration to avoid this, so it also promotes market consolidation and monopoly.
Stop taxing productive behaviour and tax idle speculation
#LVT
It is absurd that people defend a system clearly designed to extract as much money as possible while exploiting natural human perception limitations.
Taxes are ultimately just supposed to fund things, not a grand exercise in taking money from people as creatively and convoluted as possible.
If production and sales should be taxed is whole other debate. All I'm saying is that products are not taxed multiple times with VAT.
How is it that chocolate covered biscuits are considered a luxury item, but cakes are not? 🤔
Usually one considers cake to be a luxury... it's odd that it's exempt from a luxury tax like VAT. Seems like the court could solve a lot of cases simply by correcting that classification :)
Can you guys do an episode on why the US calls them cookies and the UK biscuits? Im so curious how the split in terms happened
Nothing in the UK is vat exempt. There is a 0% rate that some non-luxury items fall under. This is an important difference because 0 rate can be changed to 5, 10 or more % at any time that the government wishes to while vat exempt will always be vat exempt.
Ah the yogcast.