§ 16. Mr. Dudley Smithasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will now exempt outer reflective clothing, used in road safety and post-accident work, from the imposition of Purchase Tax.
§ Mr. TaverneNo, Sir. It is impracticable to provide relief from Purchase Tax for safety clothing generally, and it would be anomalous to deal with reflective clothing in isolation.
§ Mr. Dudley SmithIs not the Minister aware that fluorescent reflective clothing is used exclusively as a safety measure and is not suitable for normal wear, and is it not completely illogical for the Treasury still to refuse to grant Purchase Tax exemption?
§ Mr. TaverneThe difficulty is to separate, on a logical basis, one kind of safety or protective clothing from another. If one tried to do so, one would find oneself in a quite impossible, anomalous and unjust situation.