A MALVERN pub landlord is calling on the government to create tax equality for pubs as the industry continues to pay comparatively high VAT on the sale of alcohol.
Lee Cartwright has made the call as his pub The Foley Arms Hotel – a Wetherspoon – gears up to reduce its prices by 7.5 per cent next Thursday (September 12) to mark Tax Equality Day.
Tax Equality Day is a national campaign started by pub company Wetherspoon in a bid to highlight the benefit of a permanent VAT reduction in the hospitality industry.
Lee believes it’s wrong for pubs to pay 20 per cent VAT on the sale of alcohol while supermarkets pay no VAT at all, allowing them to sell alcohol to customers at a reduced price.
The pub’s manager, Lee Cartwright, said: “Customers coming to The Foley Arms Hotel will find the price of their food and drink is lower than normal.
“It’s unfair supermarkets pay zero VAT on food, but pubs pay 20 per cent. Pubs have been under fantastic pressure for decades due to the tax disadvantages it has with supermarkets.
The tax benefit allows supermarkets to subsidise the selling price of beer. It doesn’t make sense for the hospitality industry to subsidise supermarkets.
“We urge the Chancellor to create tax equality between pubs and supermarkets.”
During Tax Equality Day, a £10 bill at The Foley Arms Hotel on Worcester Road will cost £9.25 instead. The price reduction is for one day only.
Wetherspoon’s founder and chairman, Tim Martin, said: “The biggest threat to the hospitality industry is the vast disparity in tax treatment among pubs, restaurants and supermarkets.
“A VAT cut to 12.5 per cent is needed to ensure pubs, bars and restaurants do not continue to close, but instead thrive, invest and create new jobs.”
