FakeCharities - Tory-style

From the BBC:

VAT rates could be reduced on sports equipment, such as tennis rackets, and gym membership to encourage people to become more active, experts say...(1)

The Public Health Commission, set up by the Tories to look at ways of tackling obesity, also said restaurants should look to scrap super-size meals.(2)

The Tories welcomed the measures, but said they needed to be costed first.(3)

The commission brought together a range of business leaders and health experts from organisations as diverse as Unilever, the British Nutrition Foundation and Diabetes UK(4) to help inform Tory health policy.

(1) VAT, being the stealthiest and most damaging tax of all should be reduced to 0% on everything (except maybe a residual 1% on new goods, to cover refuse collection costs), once we've left the EU. VAT is not a tax on 'consumption', it is a thinly disguised tax on turnover, i.e. economic activity, and is payable whether or not the business even makes a profit (unlike corporation tax).

(2) Let's chuck in a bit of 'paternal libertarianism' shall we, the polite way of saying 'bansturbation'?

(3) Well, whoopee-doo! Tories welcome findings of own commission!

(4) Unilever is a perfectly ordinary company, trying to protect its profits/gain market share. No harm in a bit of lobbying, provided the government & opposition politely ignore them.

The British Nutrition Foundation's 2008 accounts show that it is about 50% funded by the government (page 11) for carrying out 'projects' like "Work in partnership with the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust and the Design and Technology Association to develop the DfES-funded national Entitlement to Cook programme" (from page 3) and 50% by donations from its members, who are basically all the big food manufacturers (including, inevitably, Unilever).

Diabetes UK's 2008 accounts show that it has about £22 million of 'voluntary income', which includes a relatively modest £471,000 in government grants (Note 6, page 35).