Why, when football clubs spend obscene amounts of money in transfer windows - £225 million spent by Premier League clubs alone this January - is the treasury not saying "hey, relax Great British Public, some of the burden's been taken off you'?
Now, I know not all that £225 million was liable for VAT - apparently, it's only between UK clubs - but there's still a lot there. Just 2 transactions - Torres and Carroll - at the new 20% rate, generate £17 million. And what better description of a luxury item, unnecessary for everyday life, than a footballer, for gods' sake? Yet Russian Oligarchs pay the same rate of VAT as you or I pay for clothes - and, by the way, why are childrens' clothes essential items and free of VAT, and my clothes are luxury items? Trust me, wandering around naked would convince you that clothes to cover my body are essential items!
I digressed - I do that - but you just know, don't you, that that VAT is being lost somewhere in other claims, and counter claims, probably to do with the magic words 'football in the community'. And so teams continue to throw money around, footballers can forget they had bought Porsches, and kids will have to travel further to borrow books.
It's a funny old game, Saint...
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