Letter: Tax scare

Your front-page report (6 April) repeats the myth that the VAT rise of 2.5 points (an effective uplift of 2.13 per cent on retail prices) will cost the average family £550 this year (ie most of the dramatic headline's £750).

By The Newsroom

Published 6th Apr 2011, 18:27 BST

Updated 6th Apr 2011, 21:00 BST

Almost all routine and "necessary" expenditure other than fuel is VAT-free or at the unchanged 5 per cent rate.

So for 2.13 per cent to cost a family 550 extra would require them to spend 26,125 on all other "discretionary" items, which hardly equates with your article's "average Scottish family income of 30,000 after tax".

John Birkett

Horseleys Park

St Andrews

VAT