Monday, October 08, 2007
VAT Annoyance
I would hazard a guess that I am not the only person who has been caught out by companies advertising/quoting a certain price, but then when it comes to paying them, the price has increased by the VAT. Garages and estage agents are typical of this, though it happens across the board. Why do they do this? So they can advertise a lower price, obviously.
But why is VAT so special? Why don't they leave out their employees wages and business rates, and add those when presenting us with the bill? After all, just like these two examples, the customer is not liable for VAT, the supplier is. When I buy something from Tesco, the VAT man doesn't ask me if I've paid the VAT, he asks Tesco. As a customer, I've got nothing to do with paying the VAT.
Companies are being dishonest and deliberately misleading by not quoting the actual price you will pay.
But why is VAT so special? Why don't they leave out their employees wages and business rates, and add those when presenting us with the bill? After all, just like these two examples, the customer is not liable for VAT, the supplier is. When I buy something from Tesco, the VAT man doesn't ask me if I've paid the VAT, he asks Tesco. As a customer, I've got nothing to do with paying the VAT.
Companies are being dishonest and deliberately misleading by not quoting the actual price you will pay.
