A Cake or a Biscuit? - The Lengthy and Expensive Saga of the Jaffa Cake

[@TodayIFoundOut]

Hungry for more fun food fact videos? Then check out this video and find out how you can Have Your Cake and Eat It Too: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bIaTdGaChNx4hpI

[@JonnyD3ath]

If it goes hard when left out - cake If it goes soft when left out - biscuit

[@H3xx99]

I always thought Jaffa cake was what the Goa'uld fed their servants....

[@wight1984]

Surely it would be weird not to in a video about UK tax law presented by a British person?

[@H3xx99]

wight1984 I actually didn't have time to watch. Just saw Jaffa and made a stargate joke.

[@AidanMillward]

Niche gag. Love it.

[@Shinzon23]

Jaffa...Kree!

[@adammoore251]

Cakes go hard when stale, biscuits go soft.

[@adeelalvi7875]

At first i thought YOU are #JohnnySins....

[@8mu-]

McVities should make a new line of ‘Jaffa Biscuits’ just to throw a spanner in the works.

[@8mu-]

I’m sure the majority of British people would call a wrench a spanner too.

[@STSWB5SG1FAN]

Where does "hydro-spanner" come from (SW reference)

[@crunch1757]

Eightminutesupsidedown it will be the size of a cake and really crumbley

[@That_Guy42]

They should call them Jaffa Cookies to add some confusion.

[@AdZS848]

Eightminutesupsidedown 😄😄

[@evanbranham4319]

Plot twist- It’s actually a donut

[@rmsgrey]

But doughnuts are cakes. Unless they're bagels, which are bread.

[@xcalium9346]

Plot Twist: Its a vegetable

[@h0ckeyd]

Or a doughnut even....come on, it's English.

[@h0ckeyd]

That's no moon....sorry, couldn't resists.

[@michaelparker2449]

I'm glad Pringles lost their case because it's a whole lot of stupid to call it a cake, but a Jaffa cake is definitely a cake and not just technically a cake.

[@baron_von_brunk]

I want my next birthday cake to be made from solid Pringle® material.

[@austinedwards6716]

Julius von Brunk ewww dude that would be a super weird texture what flavor tho ? 😂

[@hobknoker2011]

its gotta be their Pringles® Nissin Top Ramen® Chicken

[@a54109]

No you don't

[@emmitstewart1921]

If you make them thick enough to hold up candles, they would be very hard to chew. You could, however make the bottom layers hollow, and, as the cake is being assembled, insert a Tupperware container of Pringles.

[@EweChewBrrr01]

Prignle material. Hahaha

[@Dsdcain]

That problem with this video is now I'm hungry and can't decide between cookies (A US biscuit), cake, or Pringles. I may be forced to eat all three and will have to lay the blame on *TIFO,* rather than accept responsibility for my own lack of self control. Great video Simon and crew, thank you.

[@TodayIFoundOut]

You should try researching these things. Sooooo hungry by the end ;-)

[@jackielinde7568]

*Dsdcain* The problem with this video is that it came out during Passover, and the only way I can have either is by grinding up Matzo, making a batter or dough out of it, and baking it. And, if it doesn't sound very appealing to you, well, that's because it isn't. (Thank goodness GSoA moved their Girl Scout cookie sale to earlier in the year.)

[@CaalamusTube]

Hey Simon, Daven & friends ...you call ( our idea of ) "cookies" "biscuits". But what do you call ( our idea of ) biscuits? Rolls?

[@dannosaur7]

American biscuits I tend to classify more as "scones", however an American biscuit is bit more dense and tastes more savoury to our lighter, slightly sweeter scones. In the UK we don't have a direct alternative to American biscuits.

[@CaalamusTube]

Thanks Dan :]

[@FunSizeSpamberguesa]

American here, who was fortunate enough to have one of those once, and is quite annoyed they're not sold in the U.S. Whatever a person wants to call them, they're criminally tasty.

[@h0ckeyd]

I'm sure you should be able to get your hands on them somewhere. The people I often stay with in Virginia always manage to find the most obscure English foodstuff for me.....perhaps they've got magic elves however...Although my favourite Jaffa cake is generally an ASDA one and they're owned by Walmart so you never know.

[@NicholasJH96]

Try Lidl’s or Aldi’s they do they own under a fake brand Lidl’s is Sonaday

[@OneOnOne1162]

My main question is: Why are chocolate covered cakes exempt from VAT but not chocolate covered biscuits?

[@meredithnavin1358]

OneOnOne1162 because logic.

[@rachstone9491]

Biscuits are considered staples in the uk, given to soldiers fighting wars, provided as go-to refreshment in emergency situations etc. However ridiculous you find that, chocolate covered ones ARE more luxurious, more expensive to make and to buy.

[@ciaragarrity6425]

@@rachstone9491 And the fact that chocolate requires processing.

[@matthewdooley9046]

Fun fact, because of the high sugar content, Subway's 'bread' is actually considered to be CAKE.

[@juststeve5542]

Eastern Europe have their own version of Jaffa Cakes, called Delicje in Poland. They are available in different flavours, which can be a shock to the tastebuds when you eat the first one and are hit with strawberry instead of the orange you expected. As a Brit it pains me to have to admit it, but I find the orange Delicje is superior to the Jaffa Cake. :'( Luckily they sometimes appear in the "foreign foods" isle at my local supermarket.

[@jonsouth1545]

living in Prague I have become addicted to the sour cherry flavor

[@juststeve5542]

Simon's an expat in Czech land (or whatever they've renamed it to this year!). He should give them a test.

[@Jedonai]

A biscuit comes from the French meaning "twice baked". It was the word used for what in English is called "Hard Tack". Hard Tack is a bread made for long distance travel, primarily on ships. It is made with water, flour, and little to no oil/fats then baked twice to reduce the chances of spoiling over months of travel. When settlers got to the US they still made this hard tack but they started to stop baking it twice, added fats like milk/buttermilk/butter and the like turning it into a savory bread often used as a part of breakfast with a cream gravy (based on French Bechamel Sauce) or with jelly/jam. The British for some reason took the same word, stopped baking it twice and started adding fats and sugar to make a dessert. Miniature cake like objects that the US calls cookies which is from the Dutch for "little cakes". So in summary, biscuits for the UK are cookies which means they are all little cakes.

[@forbiddentemptations2484]

Is it a coincidence that the person talking about Jaffa cakes here is named Simon? I think not

[@MrSwagTurtle]

Forbidden Temptations Honeydew

[@eZU4nQsWN9pAGsU38aHj]

It’s interesting to see how Simon over time has become more and more energetic / funny on the main show :D

[@joshuanorman2]

The fact that Jaffa Cake cakes exist convinces me that it's a biscuit.

[@LosgehtsFCB]

Exactly. They have Jaffa cake bars so the original thing must be biscuits

[@NicholasJH96]

No it’s a cake they do opposite of biscuits when out of date. Jaffa cake cake is just a Jaffa cake in a larger size

[@VileVeil]

Strictly speaking it isn't a "jam" inside, it is a marmalade as it is made from a citrus fruit. Now make a TIFO about the difference between jam and marmalade.

[@petuniasevan]

AND make mention of the fact that marmalades in Britain often use the bitter Seville orange, while US marmalades are not bitter.

[@kirbymarchbarcena]

I don't mind calling it anything as long as I can eat it

[@GheyForGames]

Only 10 in a fucking pack now, cheap jaffa cakes were always better anyway

[@geyza0711]

not always. Tesco value jaffa cakes are shite.

[@memorandom7484]

Isn't _everything_ in Tesco shite, though?

[@geyza0711]

well the value line certainly is a bag of shite...

[@h0ckeyd]

That'll be because Tesco is shite...try ASDA or Lidl

[@h0ckeyd]

Sacrilege.

[@jasonbenjamin401]

You know what I got from this video, you Brit's are WAY, WAY overtaxed. VAT...Christ man throw some tea in a random harbor...seem's to be spot on for tax abatement.

[@siramea]

Polish shops have nicer jaffa cakes than UK ones. In my opinion. They also a wider range of similar cakes like blueberry, apricot and ones with white chocolate and strawberry jam.

[@tristissimvshominvm8999]

It's important to clarify to Americans that biscuits in UK are what we call cookies here.

[@NathansWargames]

we call cookies cookies and anything that isn't a cookie is a biscuit. ( cookie being the chips ahoy thing)

[@TorquemadaTwist]

Tristissimvs Hominvm Then what are what Americans call 'biscuits' called in the UK?

[@spacecatandthekittens1954]

The UK doesn't really have US biscuits. The closest thing is scones which can be savoury or sweet.

[@BB.halo_heir]

This isn't important to mention. Different country, different things. Not a big deal.

[@StefanTravis]

_"Then what are what Americans call 'biscuits' called in the UK?"_ Similar to Yorkshire puddings. Which are not a form of pudding.

[@caninedrill_instructor5861]

Is this a serious vid, or based on today's date, an April Fool's joke?

[@marsluco1917]

It's real

[@rmsgrey]

It's factually correct, at least as far as Jaffa Cakes and sanitary products go (I'm not previously aware of the Pringles thing, so can neither confirm nor deny its accuracy). How serious it is is open for interpretation.

[@Ozzy_2014]

rmsgrey Pringles are made from a powder yes. Potato flakes not sliced potatoes.

[@thespiritsafe]

100% real. a tax lawyers' circle-jerk

[@Adam-um4oi]

Yes, you did hear him correctly, apparently tampons and sanitary pads are not "essential" I too question this every time I hear it

[@NathansWargames]

well not Essential to you unless you're an Aussie Shiela named adam.

[@calichef1962]

@Nathan Watts-- So, according to you, non-transgendered women (cisgendered women) are supposed to just "free bleed" down their leg for five days each month? Riiiiiight. Your bigotry and misogyny are showing and it's ugly.

[@Adam-um4oi]

Nathan Watts well there not essential to me but I still don't understand why the government say they're not essential for anyone

[@Adam-um4oi]

Nathan Watts also you made me laugh for like 2 minutes and I tried to think of something funny to say back but my mind went blank haha

[@darealpoopster]

calichef1962 Well, you can live without them right?

[@lauraireson6358]

I think the most surprising thing is that they left out 12 Jaffa cakes and they didn’t get eaten. A thing I’ve never heard of.

[@lordrabbit7713]

Ah the yogcast.

[@chandrasekharghosh222]

M FROM INDIA BUT HAVE EATEN JAFFA CAKES SINCE MY CHILDHOOD AND I LOVE IT . THEY ARE SOLD HERE BY LOTTE

[@NecroAsphyxia]

I'm just going to mention how absurd the VAT tax is... Jeez that is slot of triple dipping on taxation...

[@taavim7340]

VAT definition in video is wrong. VAT is in reality paid only by end consumers. From video - if company makes cookies, it must pay VAT on sales, but can deduct VAT it paid on raw materials. Same goes for stores - they add VAT to products but deduct VAT that they paid to manufacturers.

[@schumanhuman]

V.A.T is a terrible regressive tax.. So, the fact it is less avoidable than a general sales tax is not a point in it's favour imo. The input tax credit aspect of it, to avoid double taxation at every stage of production, requires burdensome bureaucratic oversight, so businesses still benefit from vertical integration to avoid this, so it also promotes market consolidation and monopoly. Stop taxing productive behaviour and tax idle speculation #LVT

[@promontorium]

It is absurd that people defend a system clearly designed to extract as much money as possible while exploiting natural human perception limitations. Taxes are ultimately just supposed to fund things, not a grand exercise in taking money from people as creatively and convoluted as possible.

[@taavim7340]

If production and sales should be taxed is whole other debate. All I'm saying is that products are not taxed multiple times with VAT.

[@fcukugimmeausername]

If it is sponge, it's a cake. Plain and simple.

[@AlextheHistorian]

So Pringles are cakes and cakes are biscuits, and biscuits are also cookies. I think I got it now

[@yourbrainisaghetto]

If you can't put gravy on it, it's not a biscuit.

[@pestilenceplague4765]

ThatAussieGirl have you ever had biscuits and gravy?

[@randomthings9158]

People in Europe call cookies *biscuits*

[@TheVillainInGlasses]

Random Things Yet another reason I’m glad we kicked them out of our country. Biscuits are biscuits and cookies are cookies, dammit.

[@greenrobot5]

I watched the whole video wondering if it was a prank or not

[@sarahstargaming8028]

How long does it take to explain? No hate tho but I couldn’t watch the whole video lmaoooo

[@kingslushie1018]

I know a certain Dwarf would appreciate watching this video :) (If you get this reference, your an amazing person!)

[@enderfall2000]

Was just rewatching jaffa factory :)

[@lordrabbit7713]

Classic series

[@MadeByForce]

FOLLOW MEEEEE

[@Yogpodfan420]

bird up

[@forbiddentemptations2484]

Isn’t it funny that this guy is also named Simon?

[@richard1113]

Never had a Jaffa Cake but I have had Pim's cookies by Lu. Sounds the same. And they are delicious!

[@rmsgrey]

The cake/biscuit distinction was a plot point in one of Jasper Fforde's Nursery Crime novels, where the question of whether the Gingerbread Man was a cake or a biscuit turned out to be crucial.

[@Tardisntimbits]

I am Canadian, and I go to our local import shop to buy Jaffa Cakes. I blame my English Great Grandmother for introducing them to me, lol.

[@minuteman4199]

Tardisntimbits - I can buy them at Loblaws in Ontario, but they don't always have them.

[@rachaeltaylor5936]

Hey Simon and co I was wondering what makes glow in the dark things glow? Like stick on stars and putty?

[@meredithnavin1358]

Rachael Taylor I did spectrometry for my degree but this was about 6 months ago when I was told this so the details might be a bit iffy. There is a molecule or element in the glow in the dark stuff. When light hits the molecule, it promotes an electron to a higher shell and they drop back down to the lower energy shell and releases light as it does so. However, this molecule slows down the release of energy, so it glows after the lights are turned off. It actually glows when light hits it but the sunlight is so bright you can't notice it. Again, there's probably a few bits and pieces that might be a bit off factually, but that's the general gist. :-)

[@Shinzon23]

Meredith Navin unless he is talking about the fun stuff thst uses actually radioactive material!

[@rachaeltaylor5936]

Meredith Navin Thanks for that. It sounds really interesting. Such a clever thing, I think any way :)

[@meredithnavin1358]

Lazurkri Thankfully they use phosphors now! Lol

[@meredithnavin1358]

Rachael Taylor Yep! Chemistry is awesome.

[@Sam-lr9oi]

Oh dang I wanted to comment the Pringles thing and look cool. Great video!

[@TheGadgetPanda]

Ditto. I was already typing it, when they got to the bonus fact section and ruined my day.

[@TheFaithb420]

kind of reminds me of a time I made "black and white cookies" at a bakery they were essential the tops of cupcakes cut off and dipped into half chocolate icing/vanilla icing... they were delicious though

[@JohnWatkinsUK]

I thought that technically *everything* is subject to VAT, but there is a 0% rate along with the 5% and 20%.

[@Otokichi786]

If it falls on your foot and breaks it, Biscuit injury! If it falls on your foot and DOESEN'T break it, cake bounce!;)

[@Jeff121456]

I've taken to ordering (McVities) Jaffa cakes shipped to my US home. A little expensive (cough) but addictive. Something about that orange jelly.

[@Eastmarch2]

Oof 20% (the equivalent of) sales tax for -every touch-??? Damn talk about discouraging consumption and manufacturing in the UK

[@Petra44YT]

What? No vat on cakes? Here, there is a vat of 7% on food, 19% on drinks and on almost everything else. This includes female hygiene products. Still, these products are cheap (EUR 2.50 for a box of 64 tampons which lasts several months).

[@Icarus1234]

What is point of taxing the same thing 10 times? Why not just charge a sales tax when selling to end users and be done with it?

[@alexandragreenway4504]

If a person buys eggs to bake a cake with at home and pays the tax as the "end user" of that flour, why should a business buying the same product to bake cakes and sell them NOT have to pay the tax because they are not the end user (i.e. taxing individuals more than businesses)? What about a self-employed car mechanic who buys car parts in bulk to then "sell on" when they fix cars, but then uses some of his own stock to fix his own car? does he then have to declare to the taxman that part of his tax-free purchase has now become taxable because of how he chose to use the product? It's simpler, easier, and fairer to just tax the purchaser of a product based on what the product is, rather than who the purchaser is and what they're using the product for

[@Icarus1234]

What you are saying does makes sense. So I am in the US and as far as I am aware, if I buy something for the purpose of reselling, I don't have to pay sales tax on it. I do have to provide the supplier with my resale certificate to prove the fact. I am not sure if the same is true for raw materials (flour, car parts, etc) but it is true for whole products such as a crate of water bottles or keyboards, etc.

[@leapridgeon2479]

Icarus. In the UK VAT registered businesses can claim back any VAT they pay from their tax bill meaning the products are not taxed multiple times. Companies under a certain earnings threshold don't have to charge VAT. In this case they can't claim back the VAT (unless they voluntarily become VAT registered).

[@schumanhuman]

Which means companies below the threshold have a perverse incentive to stay small and avoid the tax. Another reason VAT sucks.

[@leapridgeon2479]

schumanhuman. The threshold is just a point at which the burden is shifted. The tax is paid either way. The only thing that changes is who is responsible to pay it. Around the threshold it is expected that you keep full accounts that can be audited so in that case you will have a full record to claim back VAT for any goods you have charged VAT on that you previously paid it on. Optionally you can do this from the get go. Talking with my accountant some new businesses benefit from registering whilst some are fine as they are. The most it does is cost you a little more on your accountancy bill of which is tax deductable.

[@aquilarossa5191]

A biscuit is not a cookie. Y'all know what I mean over there in the land of septic tanks huh? I love Jaffa Cakes. Sadly they do not have them in NZ where we moved when I 15. P.S. Football, not soccer. I love football too. P.P.S. VAT in NZ is called GST. A way of shifting the tax burden to the working class is one argument against it. P.P.P.S. Crisps are crunchy. Chips are what you pour vinegar on and eat before the football, not soccer. BTW. A butt is not a fanny. They are very different things that some folks get confused in the land of septic tanks. One only bleeds when it is whipped. P.S. How did they get called Septic Tanks? I wonder if it was WWII. They were notorious for being Johns without a Johnny when on R&R. Epidemic of the clap so bad they had take measures. Full of germs like a septic tank. That's the more polite theory.

[@bluelobster56]

Good episode... Lawyers and government agencies just trying to maximize profit!

[@ToryuMau]

... There's a similar snack called "Choco Pie" in Korea that's basically two Jaffa Cake sandwiched with marshmallow cream. There's an old tradition of poor single people stacking a whole box of this... "Pie" on their birthday and putting a single candle on top, calling it "Sad Cake". >):'^c

[@softy8088]

3:30 Grammar nitpick: You should just use "whether" instead of "whether or not", since you're following it with two options already. (And "whether or not" is often redundant anyway and "whether" followed by just one possibility is perfectly grammatical. In this video adding "or not" is not merely unnecessary, it's actually incorrect.)

[@catherine_404]

We have clones of these cakes/biscuits in Russia! I don't particularity like them myself, but I appreciate them, I understand why many people like them.

[@camgood2437]

That explains why I've always hated Pringles so much lol. I love potato chips, though. I thought Pringles were made with processed potatoes, and didn't realize it was only 42% . If they were made with 100% potatoes, there's a much higher chance I would like them (although I still wouldn't eat them, since it makes no sense to when actual potato chips exist lol).

[@cigmorfil4101]

VAT may appear to be added along the chain with each company paying but it is only the non VAT registered entities that pay the VAT (normally the final "consumer") - all the VAT registered companies along the chain are acting as unpaid tax collectors: Assuming all companies in the following example are VAT registered then: Company A makes a product and sells it for £a to company B; it must add VAT. Company A keeps the £a and gives the VAT that company B paid to HMRC. Company B processes the product of Co A and sells it onto Co C at £b plus VAT on that. However as Co B is VAT registered it can claim back the VAT that it paid to Co A (which Co A paid direct to HMRC) from HMRC and then pay the VAT that Co C paid to HMRC. To avoid unnecessary payments only the difference between the VAT that B paid to HMRC via Co A and the VAT that Co C has paid need be paid by Co B to HMRC. This continues along the chain with each VAT registered company reclaiming the VAT it paid to its supplier and passing the VAT it collected on behalf of HMRC to HMRC. Suppose Co F is the final company in the chain and sells to the final (non VAT registered) consumer. It reclaims all the VAT paid so far (the VAT Co E collected from them and passed to HMRC) and pays all the VAT it collects from the final consumer to HMRC (as the difference between what HMRC has to pay them for the VAT it paid to HMRC via Co E and what the consumer gives to them as VAT on top of the price £f Co F charges the final consumer). It is only the final consumer that has paid all the VAT.

[@matthewhills8265]

Maybe it is just my interpretation, but the video doesn't explain VAT very well. It is a tax on the added value (hence, value added...). Companies that sell goods can claim back the VAT that was paid on the inputs. This makes sure that the tax is only paid on the value added to products and no double (or triple taxation as the video suggested) takes place. For example, if I buy some ingredients from a farmer for £12, £10 went to the farmer and £2 was paid to the government in VAT. If I then bake a cake with those ingredients and sell it for £24, I would receive £20 and the government would get £4. However, since I didn't grow the ingredients myself I would be able to claim back the £2 that the farmer paid in tax. This way no double taxation takes place and only 20% VAT is paid on the value of the final product (the cake at £20).

[@TheWanderingLPer]

Maybe Pringles should have taken a page from McVitties. Bake a giant, cake-sized pringle chip and try to pass it off as a cake. Except, when they try to cut into it, it'd just fall apart...

[@deonmurphy6383]

Ho ho, Pringles doesn't pay the VAT, they just pass it along in the price of the crisps, and the consumer pays the price including all of the pancaked VAT's.

[@dough9950]

I was expecting an April fools video that was completely bonus facts...

[@micheleoftheoaks5506]

What? Britt pay 25% VAT? That's outrageous! Nice try Pringles, calling yourself a cake to get out of paying outrageous taxes.

[@richiewong1]

So what’s a Terry’s Chocolate Orange? 😉

[@Ozzy_2014]

Richie Wong disgusting.

[@kewgardensstation]

Uh, not for nothing, but we Yanks have a similar cookie called Orange Milanos. They consist of two cookies with orange jam and chocolate sandwiched together, made by Pepperidge Farm out in Norwich, CT. www.amazon.com/Pepperidge-Farm-Orange-Cookies-7-Ounce/dp/B004P7QDC8?th=1 Perhaps we're a bit less divided than our Brit cousins on the issue. Being an edible food product that is sold in a package of multiples, and not baked on premises or served warm, they've always been sold and marketed as cookies (or "biscuits" if you're from the UK), not cake, and are exempt from sales tax in most states of the Union. As is "cake" in the U.S. also tax exempt. Baked goods that are not sweetened, like pizza, calzone, pirogues, etc., are taxable.

[@agentnuget]

...jaffa cakes, never had them but... They look like fucking mini cakes.

[@CommandLineCowboy]

Sooo stupid! NZ GST (Good & Services Tax) is a flat 15% on everything, no exceptions. I was programming retail systems when it was introduced. Out went a plethora a different sales taxes replaced by a simple global tax. Made my job easier, made the tax department's job easier. The job of a tax department is to tax, not to waste money on court cases fighting edge conditions. If poor people cant afford food, they go to "Work and Income". Welfare departments should do welfare, tax departments should do tax.

[@ShadowDrakken]

Usually one considers cake to be a luxury... it's odd that it's exempt from a luxury tax like VAT. Seems like the court could solve a lot of cases simply by correcting that classification :)

[@gc4397]

"SHULVA CREE!" You're awesome if you know this jaffa reference.

[@lafregaste]

I'm not exactly sure I understood something.... The way you explained it sounded like that tax is paid more than once! So let's say the company's price is 5 dollars, the tax would be 1 (not sure of maths), the retailer buys it for 6$ then sells it to the common Joe at 6+ 1.2 of tax and whatever he wants to earn... let say 8... Joe is paying 2 times that tax... Right?

[@CaalamusTube]

So, since we refer to the things you consider "biscuits" as "cookies" ...what do you call the things we consider "biscuits"??? Rolls?

[@Rolletti21]

Well it does look like a cookie/biscuit. LOL but yeah I guess cake will do. In the south, USA, THAT is not a biscuit. 😂😂😂😂😂

[@christopherconard2831]

And every few years some American politician starts advocating for a VAT here. Because US tax law isn't insane enough.

[@tessat338]

What do we eat when traveling in Great Britain? Pringles and Jaffa Cakes. I don't remember if I had to pay VAT. My dad, a health-nut since the 70s, eats Toblerone bars. None of these things would he eat here in the US. We get Pringles when going to the beach and Pims cookies which are the closest things to Jaffa Cakes you can get in the US.

[@will2003michael2003]

I love that we don’t tax food in the USA. I am kind of shocked by VAT. Seems really bad on consumers and manufactures.

[@dukefrywokker6470]

Taxing a product during production, distribution, and consumption? That's how revolutions start.

[@goliath257]

Typical bullying grasping authorities (government) using the people’s money to try and grasp even more. Despicable entities.

[@ZerqTM]

this clearly must be a uniquely English problem... for example with the Swedish world for cake as in birthday cake it clearly always one thing rather then a biscuit... there is just no way you can confuse the two..

[@elizabethfoster4297]

And because of 'Today I Found Out', I learned that the inventor of the Pringles can was cremated and buried in a Pringles can!

[@That_Guy42]

My goodness! VAT sounds like highway robbery at its finest. I suppose if there were no other form of tax in a country it could be okay at something like 10%

[@jdb47games]

There is an inaccuracy in this video. Food is mostly zero-rated for VAT, not exempt. Exempt and zero-rated are different things. Although in both cases there is no VAT charged to the consumer, in the case of zero-rating the businesses in the supply chain can reclaim VAT paid on costs, whereas in the case of exempt items they cannot.

[@merlinmagnus873]

VAT: Viciously Aggressive Taxation. No wonder everything was so expensive when I went over there. Their government is screwing people start to finish on everything they make.

[@TheFoulMouthNews]

I love how VAT is a tax on a tax on a tax and Brits, along with Europeans, just take it. There is a reason the United States told King George to piss off. Funny thing is, the taxes weren't remotely this bad when they did.

[@TheFoulMouthNews]

Yeah, you said tax trying to make me look stupid, when I know what I am talking about. Now, you are trying to save your ass after making yourself look stupid in the process. Thank you for proving my point of you not knowing what you are talking about.

[@TheFoulMouthNews]

Excuse me? Talk about projection. You are the one who decided to open their mouth so to speak and try to make someone look stupid. In the process, you did it to yourself. You even had to admit my statement about VAT had absolutely nothing to do with what you were saying. So I ask you, if you will take the time out of your life to chime in like you did, how was it of no importance to you? I mean, you're the one trying to continue this and come out on top due to making yourself look stupid. It isn't me doing that.

[@TheFoulMouthNews]

I am not the one projecting here. You are. So keep telling yourself and others out here the BS you are. People are going to see what is what from your posts.

[@oli2.019]

I really don't like when a definition is the main factor. The factor should be the morals of the law. Something like this Jaffa Cake is clearly a luxury

[@matthewspencer5086]

Introducing VAT was a condition of the UK entering the EEC (now "EU") and all states are supposed to pay a percentage of the take to the EU. And Patrick Stewart thinks that staying in the EU is the right thing to do!

[@aussiebloke609]

I used to go through a couple of packets of Jaffa Cakes a day. Boy, do I miss their delicious yumminess now. Nothing even close to that good in the US. :-(

[@thevirtualjim]

wow, in america, all sanitary products are fully taxed. 'Prepared' food are taxed and 'non-prepared' foods are not. I still have not been able to figure out the details of which are which and I have been born and raised in the US (46 yrs old) It is also highly annoying that in the US tax is never included in the listed price, so you have to do a bunch of math to know how much anything actually costs (each county in each state of the US has different sales tax rates).

[@pokeslasher]

They need to start selling goddamn Jaffa cakes in the US, fucking mcvitties ;-;

[@KiltedJock1]

So a cake sponge when left out over time goes hard when its stale, however a biscuit when left out over time goes soft and soggy when its stale. Jaffa cakes have a sponge base just like a cake and when left out over time it goes hard when stale! Its a CAKE ... and im away to eat 24 pack!!

[@mr88cet]

Might be worthwhile pointing out that a “biscuit” is, essentially, what Americans would call a cookie.

[@kanejarrett1671]

The clue is in the title, it's not a Jaffa Biscuit, is it? Do you know how you tell? Biscuits are hard and go soft when left out, cakes are soft and go hard when left out... How does a Jaffa *Cake* start out again? And what happens when you leave it out? That's right. It's a cake.

[@sapphiro]

The question is wth the only ones I can find on the shelves are orange flavoured? In my country we have at least 10 different filling flavours and chocolate coatings. My favourite are blueberry jam with white chocolate top.

[@Jason-io2vy]

I didn't realize the Jaffa from Star Gate SG-1 had setup a bake shop in England making Jaffa cakes.

[@KuLaydMahn]

I love Pringles chips, but whoever decided to try to have them classified as cake can heck off. That's how good things get ruined for everyone!

[@jamesmcgrath1952]

Dam it! Now I have to try Jaffa Cake. OH, VAT? Sounds awfully dodgy.

[@Falney]

Nothing in the UK is vat exempt. There is a 0% rate that some non-luxury items fall under. This is an important difference because 0 rate can be changed to 5, 10 or more % at any time that the government wishes to while vat exempt will always be vat exempt.

[@1969Kismet]

Hello Simon, would you consider making a video of how you make your videos? I'd like to know how you do your research, how you prepare for the recording and the editing too. What do you think?

[@DogsBAwesome]

You got the VAT all wrong, one the sock maker they claim the vat back on purchase of materials and the Tax is put on there product for sale. Then the retailers claim and VAT back and put VAT on the final sale. So in reality the tax is only put on the final sale.

[@ROGER2095]

I live in the high-tax (and confusing-tax) state of Illinois. Fresh grapes are taxed at one rate, grape juice at a different rate, grape wine at a different rate, grape vodka at a different rate, a magazine about grapes at different rate, and a book about grapes at still another rate. Plus, all the rates can vary from one county to another, and one town to another. This is big government: Politicians start out with one plan which anyone can understand and then carve out exceptions for one (voting) group after another until nobody can understand it. PS - Illinois is deep in debt and going broke because in Illinois the purpose of taxes isn't to raise revenue.

[@macsnafu]

The VAT sounds like an insidious way to tax the same product several times. Of course, in the end, it's always the end consumer who gets to pay all the levels of the tax, as the price has to cover the cost of previous VAT taxes.

[@FluppiLP]

we also have them in Germany They are fucking disgusting :D They are neither biscuit nor cake, they are shit and only shit :P

[@MrTomtomtest]

I think you made a mistake there in the end Simon, I would think it is not the company that had to pay the VAT but rather the retailer & consumer, meaning less sells for the company. Because the company itself already had to pay normal VAT on the ingredients.

[@Techischannel]

Am i the only one who has a Serious Deja-Vu right now? Wasnt it a few years back the suggestion to go on with the Jaffa Cake problem?