No. of Recommendations: 2
"Oh, it would start small. And then grow like Social Security did. And like the Federal income tax did. Both of these started small, and then incrementally grew. How to boil a frog.
Google: UK VAT started at 10% and is now 20%."
Prior to VAT there was already a Purchase Tax which immediately before being replaced with VAT in 1973 had rates of 13, 22, 36 and 55%. This was down from 66% about a decade before and 100% during the second world war.
From what I remember from the 1980's onwards there was a conscious effort to try to switch taxes away from income and onto consumption by successive Conservative governments in the UK.
