“Time to scrap the ‘Tourist Tax’ and get Britain booming again,” screamed the Daily Mail from its front page on Monday as it launched a campaign to reinstate rebates for VAT paid by overseas visitors. AdvertisementIt means shopping on the continent, where countries continue to offer VAT rebates, is 20% cheaper than in the UK. Even British shoppers can hop over to cities in Europe to shop for high value goods like luxury watches and enjoy the saving. VAT rebates were set to be reintroduced by the short-lived government under Liz Truss as a way of stimulating the economy, but the idea was abandoned by Rishi Sunak when he took office. Effectively, we have suddenly started charging 20% more than other countries do for the same goods,” the letter states.

Source: Daily Mail April 25, 2023 12:59 UTC