Taxman takes the biscuit to the tune of £3.5M!

Sometimes the taxman in the UK gets a period of temporary insanity. Then wakes up from the coma, but persists in peddling the selfsame nonsense. The European Court of Justice has ruled that the Treasury overcooked its books by suggesting that chocolate teacakes from Marks and Spencer were biscuits. They wanted to slap VAT on the offending delicacies and for two years did so. M & S took them to court.

VAT is a cumbersome tax. It costs a small fortune to administer and is open to Humpty Dumpty interpretations. I would cheerfully get rid of the wretched thing and put a sales tax in its place, but then our masters in Brussels would be coughing up bloood!

I'd like to have been at the original meeting of the taxgatherers to hear their argument as to why such a fluffy concoction could pass as a biscuit. The Monty Python Dead Parrot sketch could be reworded along the lines "This teacake is a biscuit. No, it's not, it's a cake!"

What a world!