This petition was submitted during the 2019-2024 parliament
Rejected petition Amend tax on essential items at a rate inversely proportional to inflation.
Fuel prices have doubled and food price inflation is running into double digits. These items are essential to live yet VAT is charged. By decreasing VAT on these items to either zero or at a rate inversely proportional to the inflationary increase above target, this benefits Government and consumer.
More details
Inflation on fuel and food are at unprecedented levels when more people are struggling to pay bills and buy food. Reducing VAT whenever Government inflation targets are exceeded does not impact Government finances because tax revenue will increase regardless, but it will soften inflationary pressures on household budgets. For example, if fuel at home increases by 100%, then the tax is either reduced to zero or is atleast reduced by 50% from 5% to 2.5%. The Government does not lose revenue.
This petition was rejected
Why was this petition rejected?
It’s not clear what the petition is asking the UK Government or Parliament to do.
We understand you're concerned about VAT, however it's not clear what 'essential' items you want VAT to be removed from or reduced for, nor how you want it to be determined whether VAT on these items is zero-rated or inversely tied to inflation.
You could have a petition calling for VAT on a certain group of products or services to be zero-rated, so long as the petition was clear what products or services this would apply to.
You may wish to sign these petitions which call for related actions:
Suspend VAT on road fuels to reduce fuel costs: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/610567
Reduce the standard rate of VAT to help with increased cost of living: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/609147
We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.