4 ms·

I wonder why the UK has a 20% tariff on potato chips, er I mean crisps. Is it to stop from being overrun by clearly superior Irish crisps (O'Donnells Ballymalo

I wonder why the UK has a 20% tariff on potato chips, er I mean crisps. Is it to stop from being overrun by clearly superior Irish crisps (O'Donnells Ballymaloe Relish and Cheddar in particular)?

petesergeant 1y ago
> by clearly superior Irish crisps Here is a map of where they're available in the UK[0]. I think you under-estimate the cut-throat nature and absolute consumer abundance of good crisps in the wider British Isles... 0: https://stores-ballymaloefoods.ie/tesco https://stores-ballymaloefoods.ie/tesco
- varispeed 1y ago
  Map seems to be showing distribution centres, not actual stores - at least for Tesco.
StevenWaterman 1y ago
Are you getting confused between tariffs and VAT? VAT is the equivalent of sales tax. From what I can tell, the tariff on "Potatoes, Thin slices, fried or baked, whether or not salted or flavoured, in airtight packings, suitable for immediate consumption" from Ireland is 14%, reduced to 0% if they originate in Ireland https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/commodities/2005202000?country=IE#import https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/commodities/20052020...
fredoralive 1y ago
It's Value Added Tax, which is basically a sales tax[1], not a tariff (unless you're a certain president who thinks it is?). The idea is that VAT was supposed to apply to everything equally (AFAIK in most EU countries it does?), but applying it to some things like food, children’s clothes or books was seen as kinda a bad idea when they brought it in for the UK in the 1970s, so they don't have it (technically the do, but at a 0% rate which is a technicality only accountants care about). But with food they didn't want to apply to frivolous luxuries. Which in some cases is fairly obvious (alcohol has VAT), and snacks like crisps are also bourgeois luxuries, so get the full 20% (oh, for the days of 17.5%...). This split does lead to some interesting tax tribunal decisions, so a chocolate covered biscuit does have VAT, but a cake with a chocolate topping doesn't, leading to the famous Jaffa Cake case, or this case about rather crisp like Poppadoms made by a crisp company. [1] Except a lot more confusing.

I wonder why the UK has a 20% tariff on potato chips, er I mean crisps. Is it to stop from being overrun by clearly superior Irish crisps (O'Donnells Ballymaloe Relish and Cheddar in particular)?

petesergeant 1y ago

> by clearly superior Irish crisps Here is a map of where they're available in the UK[0]. I think you under-estimate the cut-throat nature and absolute consumer abundance of good crisps in the wider British Isles... 0: https://stores-ballymaloefoods.ie/tesco https://stores-ballymaloefoods.ie/tesco

varispeed 1y ago
Map seems to be showing distribution centres, not actual stores - at least for Tesco.

StevenWaterman 1y ago

Are you getting confused between tariffs and VAT? VAT is the equivalent of sales tax. From what I can tell, the tariff on "Potatoes, Thin slices, fried or baked, whether or not salted or flavoured, in airtight packings, suitable for immediate consumption" from Ireland is 14%, reduced to 0% if they originate in Ireland https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/commodities/2005202000?country=IE#import https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/commodities/20052020...

fredoralive 1y ago

It's Value Added Tax, which is basically a sales tax[1], not a tariff (unless you're a certain president who thinks it is?). The idea is that VAT was supposed to apply to everything equally (AFAIK in most EU countries it does?), but applying it to some things like food, children’s clothes or books was seen as kinda a bad idea when they brought it in for the UK in the 1970s, so they don't have it (technically the do, but at a 0% rate which is a technicality only accountants care about). But with food they didn't want to apply to frivolous luxuries. Which in some cases is fairly obvious (alcohol has VAT), and snacks like crisps are also bourgeois luxuries, so get the full 20% (oh, for the days of 17.5%...). This split does lead to some interesting tax tribunal decisions, so a chocolate covered biscuit does have VAT, but a cake with a chocolate topping doesn't, leading to the famous Jaffa Cake case, or this case about rather crisp like Poppadoms made by a crisp company. [1] Except a lot more confusing.