Listen, Osborne didn't want to tax pasties, but he had to. See, some bloody German, selling bratwurst and chips from trailers, challenged his government for charging top rate VAT on what he did. He wasn't 'catering' merely handing over some sausages he had heated up.
The judges at the EU agreed with him and Osborne went into a flat panic. It meant he either had to apply 20% to pasties or let all takeaway's escape VAT. So he went down the tax route. Naturally, the fish and chip shops here thought they saw an opportunity and are contemplating suing for the return of 'millions of pounds of VAT they have paid'.
And we laugh and wish them luck, 'yeah stick it to the man', we say. But hold on. Fish and chip shops don't actually pay VAT, they just hand it on. We pay the VAT as it is charged on what we buy. So if they got a refund, it would be our bloody money not theirs! But as they cannot ascertain who they owe what, they will keep the money and order a new Beemer. The common man is the poor bloody infantry.
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