Watching the EU unravel (6)

... or finally, there's my old favourite Value Added Tax, the worst tax of all*.

Hopefully one day VAT-registered traders will wake up to the fact that this increases their marginal rate of corporation tax or income tax from 30% or 41% to something approaching 100% or more. I am finding it a hard struggle to explain to them that they do not just pay 17.5% on their gross mark-up, they pay 17.5% on their entire turnover (once you add net VAT liability and input VAT together) but hey ...

Even if VAT-registered traders fall for The Big Lie that 'VAT is borne by the customer', then hey, aren't we all consumers? Our tax burden is quite enough thank you, without fining us another 17.5% when we actually go out and spend what little we have left!

* With Employer's National Insurance running a close second.