Taxation: VAT
House of Lords
Written answers and statements, 2 November 2009
Lord Pearson of Rannoch (UKIP)
To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the total receipts from value added tax in the United Kingdom; and what percentage of those receipts goes towards the United Kingdom contribution to the European Union budget.
Lord Myners (Parliamentary Secretary, HM Treasury; Labour)
Total receipts from value added tax (VAT) are published in the National Statistics VAT bulletin available at https://www.uktradeinfo.com/index.cfm?task=bullvat. In 2008 total VAT receipts were £80,708 million.
The UK's VAT-based contribution to the European Union is published in table 12.1 of the Blue Book, available at http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_economy/BB09.pdf. In 2008 the UK's contribution was £2,270 million.
Using these two figures, the UK's VAT-based contribution to the European Union in 2008 was equivalent to 2.8 per cent of total VAT receipts.