Saga comments on airport rip-off retailers
Commenting on the debate around airport retailers keeping VAT refunds Saga Holidays Paul Green commented:
"Treasury ministers have confirmed what many holidaymakers believed for some time - that you need to be wary when shopping at Britain's airports.
The VAT exemption is supposed to benefit hard-pressed holidaymakers, but the only ones who appear to bagging a bargain are rapacious retailers - swiping a 20% VAT refund without passing it on to customers. Saying that it is just too difficult not to charge the VAT included price is nonsense - their systems are clever enough to reclaim the VAT so treating customers fairly should be simple.
This is tantamount to racketeering and if rip-off merchants wont play fair by the travelling public then the Government need to act. They should make it illegal to charge VAT if it is not due or consider abolishing the VAT exemption and recycling the extra revenue to lower Air Passenger Duty.
