![Jaffa Cakes](/sites/default/files/styles/full_height_banner/public/2023-11/Jaffa%20CakeA.jpg?itok=iHoCRKaY)
This week, we dive into the oddities of the VAT system.
Subscribe now: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | ACAST | Stitcher | YouTube | Google Podcasts | RSS
From jaffa cakes and gingerbread men, to fur skin coats and children's clothes, our VAT system and its byzantine rules seem, on the surface, to be a fun quirk of the UK tax system.
But dig deeper, and one finds economic distortions and inefficiencies due to the complex way the UK's third largest tax is levied.
Leading us through this maze of complexity are Helen Miller, IFS Deputy Director and tax expert, and Dan Neidle, a tax lawyer and founder of Tax Policy Associates.
Zooming In: discussion questions
Every week, we share a set of questions designed for A Level economics students to discuss, written by teacher Will Haines.
Related content
Host
![Paul Johnson](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2022-11/Paul%20J%202022%20Official%20portrait_0.jpg?itok=JAN23N1X)
Director
Paul has been the Director of the IFS since 2011. He is also currently visiting professor in the Department of Economics at University College London.
Participants
![Helen Miller](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2022-07/Helen-Miller.jpg?itok=nATifWPA)
![Dan Neidle Headshot](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2023-02/Dan_Neidle_jpg.jpeg?itok=2C5XGy6i)
Founder, Tax Policy Associates
Podcast details
- DOI
- 10.1920/pd.ifs.2023.0019
- Publisher
- Institute for Fiscal Studies
More from IFS
Understand this issue
![Microphone](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2024-06/Microphone.jpg?itok=soM7Wvbz)
Election Special: Your questions answered
27 June 2024
![Interview](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2024-06/1.jpg?itok=mjderngL)
Election Special: The big issues politicians haven't spoken about
25 June 2024
![Kier Starmer](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2024-06/Lab1.jpg?itok=43eIsvgM)
Election Special: The Labour manifesto explained
14 June 2024
Policy analysis
![Welsh town with mountains behind](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2024-06/Welsh-town-feature.jpg?itok=5axb5wZn)
How would the parties’ tax and spending plans affect Scotland and Wales?
28 June 2024
![Polling station](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2024-06/Polling-station-school.jpg?itok=uS-l6b-1)
What are the parties’ plans for benefits and taxes?
24 June 2024
![Shopping street](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2024-06/Street-scene-.jpg?itok=R39cR6Xp)
How do the last five years measure up on levelling up?
19 June 2024
Academic research
![Journal Article Cover](/sites/default/files/styles/portrait/public/2024-04/Pages%20from%20Journal%20of%20Economic%20Perspectives%20Winter%202024.pdf_.jpg?itok=RHNhJqd7)
Does the value-added tax add value? Lessons using administrative data from a diverse set of countries
9 February 2024
![Journal cover](/sites/default/files/styles/portrait/public/2024-01/Review%20of%20Economics%20and%20Statistics.jpg?itok=17sKhTtl)
Intertemporal income shifting and the taxation of business owner-managers
24 January 2024
![Working paper cover](/sites/default/files/styles/portrait/public/2024-03/WP202409-House-price-rises-and-borrowing-to-invest.jpg?itok=4udJUAU_)
House price rises and borrowing to invest
27 March 2024