§ Mr. David Priceasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what flat rate of sales tax on total retail trade would be necessary to provide the same income to public funds as VAT, on the assumption that there are no exemptions.
§ Mr. Robert SheldonIf the sales tax were to apply to all items of consumer's expenditure, it is estimated that the rate of tax would need to be about 5 per cent. to provide the same revenue as VAT.
§ Mr. David Priceasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his estimate of the total value of United Kingdom domestic retail trade for the fiscal year 1976–77 used for calculating the likely yield of value added tax; and what percentage of this is in trade that is exempt from value added tax, zero-rated, rated at 8 per cent. and rated at 12½ per cent., respectively.
§ Mr. Robert SheldonIt is not the practice to publish forecasts of this item. It is estimated that about 10 per cent. of consumers' expenditure is for supplies of goods and services exempt from VAT, 30 per cent. zero-rated, 45 per cent. taxed 687W at the standard rate of 8 per cent. and 7 per cent. taxed at the higher rate of 12½ per cent. The remaining expenditure is for supplies outside the scope of VAT.