§ Mr. David Walderasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what would be the cost of (a) exempting and (b) zero-rating all charitable business carried on by registered charities for the purpose of VAT.
§ Dr. GilbertIt is not possible to give reliable estimates because the available statistics do not distinguish registered charities as such. The best estimate that can be made is that the cost of exempting charities from VAT would be of the order of £1 million a year. The cost of zero-rating could well be substantially higher.