Value added tax whacks chicken sales in Britain

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Last fall, Britain began applying a 20 per cent value added tax (VAT) on food that was "hot" when it was passed over the counter, including rotisserie chickens, and sales fell by 18 per cent in the next five months, according to the British Poultry Council, or about 138,00 fewer birds per week.

British news reports indicate a rotisserie chicken now costs about £5.55, up from £4.65 (C$7.17-$8.57). In Ontario at Easter, a similar 700-gram chicken was selling for about C$7 at Food Basics stores. British grocery chain Morrison's hopes that the government will change its policy. Most customers eat the chickens cold after they get home, not on the street like a "pasty" as the Brits call a pastry-wrapped sausage. Pasties have already been made exempt from the tax as long as they are allowed to cool before they are sold. BF