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Brown backs huge rise in import duty limits
The Chancellor has reportedly given his backing to a proposal to increase by 700 per cent the amount of goods that can be brought into the UK duty free.
According to the Daily Mail, Gordon Brown is writing to the European Commission to propose that the tax-free limit of imported personal goods from outside the EU should rise from £145 to £1,000.
However, the newspaper points out, “as with most of the Chancellor’s pre-election goodies yesterday there is a catch”.
The “catch” is that for any such proposal to be agreed, it would have to be agreed by all 25 EU members.
The Mail points out that, at present, anyone buying an item such as camcorder for £700 in the US, would be faced with a bill totalling £237.65 – 14 per cent import duty and 17.5 per cent VAT.
Report by Tim Gillett, News From Abroad Ltd
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