Tax-free shopping axe is blow to all UK
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Duty-free shopping hits UK as a whole: boss of Yorkshire-based jeweler Berry’s warns of ‘farcical’ levy
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Sparkle: Berry’s stock brands like Cartier, whose ambassador is Lily Collins
The government’s ‘farcical’ tourist tax is driving visitors away from Britain, the boss of Yorkshire-based jeweler Berry’s warned.
Critics have said the abolition of VAT-free shopping for foreign tourists has dealt a ‘hammer blow’ to London.
But Simon Walton, who runs the 125-year-old company, said that while the emphasis was on the capital, ‘it’s not just the West End’ that is suffering.
Tourists “travel across the country – and all these places are struggling because duty-free shopping has stopped.”
By shopping VAT-free, tourists can claim back 20 percent of their purchases.
It was abolished when the UK left the EU. Kwasi Kwarteng tried to reinstate it in his ‘mini-budget’ in September, but Jeremy Hunt, his replacement as chancellor, reversed the plan.