No. of Recommendations: 1
The tax should, as far as practicable, be applied on *everything*, including necessities. (there is a lobby for everything, and everything is therefore a necessity). You get massive tax fiddling and wasted economic effort at every artificial boundary you introduce. Is this food or a snack?
Yeah, this. The debates in the UK over what goods should be free from VAT are endless, and the list keeps expanding, creating all sorts of crazy complications and confusion. Biscuit or cake? Hot food or cold? Eating in or taking out, etc etc? Ridiculous. Just charge it on everything. KISS.
If income/wealth are too unequal (probably true in the UK) find some other ways to even things up a bit.
SA