It is clear from the figures that the raising of the rate to 20% increased revenue. Yes, there is a Laffer effect in VAT, and 20% is clearly below the optimising point if our only interest is in increasing revenue. Going from 17.5% to 20% has not got us to the point where it costs us revenue. If it had, I would have been the first to tell Ministers that it was a ridiculous idea. I understand their need for more revenue, because they inherited such a huge deficit.
Finance (No.2) Bill
Proceeding contribution from
John Redwood
(Conservative)
in the House of Commons on Tuesday, 8 April 2014.
It occurred during Debate on bills
and
Committee of the Whole House (HC) on Finance (No.2) Bill.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
579 c154 
Session
2013-14
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Librarians' tools
Timestamp
2014-04-14 14:59:14 +0100
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