Tax Equality Day: Saviour of the British Pub?

The other day, 24th September 2014 to be precise, was tax equality day. It’s not been as widely publicised as it should be, but a lot of pubs and restaurant chains have been taking part. JD Wetherspoons, Everards, Fullers and Punch Taverns being 4 of the big companies which participated in the day.

All food and drink was cut by 7.5% to show the effect of reducing VAT for the hospitality industry to just 5%. Currently the industry pays about 20%, whereas Supermarkets pay zero VAT on food, yeah zero, pretty unfair right?

However this is not getting through to the government who rejected the drop in VAT because it would ‘cost too much and create a shortfall in tax revenue.’ (Try getting some of the big businesses to actually pay their tax then!)

It would benefit the country in the long run though and the tax equality day has been a huge success and brought in big business for all involved, especially Tim Martin’s Wetherspoons franchise which saw an increase on sales around 20% and aimed this year to increase that again.

The thing is though, this huge tax difference and subsequent forced price rise, is effectively killing off the great British pub, and the forthcoming ‘go sober for October’ campaign will probably have a similar, if slightly less catastrophic, knock on effect.

Britain always has, and still does, a big thriving brewing industry and the local boozer has always been the meeting point of all walks of life, from the old regulars who prop up the bar, to the youngsters going out for the first time, forging friendships and meeting people and the old flames or young lovers bonding or catching up over a few beers.
It’s part of our culture and always has been, much like tea, moaning and queuing and I don’t see a huge tax on those!

There’s a few people who have dismissed the ongoing onslaught of JD Wetherspoons popping up all over the country as ‘destroying the local public houses’ but it’s becoming clear that it’s no such thing. The fact that a lot of the pubs are regularly featured in the good beer guide produced by CAMRA speaks volumes. The majority of them are different and are usually tailored to and reflect the history of the towns and the often beautiful old buildings that they occupy. Each pub also has its own little quirks and same great community spirit and regular patrons as you would find in any local village inn.

I personally have recently acquired a CAMRA membership and have received my many ’50p off a pint of ale at Wetherspoons’ vouchers, which is a further great reason why the massive chain is more of a force for good than for ‘evil.’ In fact they are having another of their International Ale Festivals in around a month which is always popular with the punters and the forthcoming new menu launch is set to be extremely popular.

The other thing about the tax equality day, or ‘tax parity day’ as it’s previously been known, is that it has proven to reduce prices and create hundreds and thousands of jobs within that sector as well as visitor attractions which will also attract more tourists and have a great benefit to the hotel sector as well. It’s been successful in European countries thanks to the help of Jacques Borel, who hopes to see his message and ideas come to fruition one day in this country.

So let’s all speak up louder and really push the government on this issue, because it’s not just the selfishness of wanting cheaper booze, it’s wanting what’s best for the country. For this simple tax reduction will not only keep more pubs open, it will also create more jobs, more opportunities and boost tourism for the UK.