VAT on vet bills, I disagree with this.

Apologies for those who may deem this spamming, but my cat was put to sleep on Saturday, inspired by this I have made a petition attempting to abolish VAT on emergency pet care. This is on behalf of myself and everyone I know who has received sky high vet bills.

Please sign this if you have ever experienced or know anybody who has experienced high emergency vet bills. It is not a luxury to save a pets life, and shouldn't be taxed as such.

http://www.change.org/en-GB/petition...gency-pet-care

Is any pet care a luxury?
We pay vat on virtually everything so I'm a bit bewildered as to where the luxury comes into it.

I've just forked out around £1500 for diagnostic tests, xrays and pain killers + euthanasia for one of my dogs and can't say I gave the vat a second thought if I'm honest.

I agree with Trouble. It would never occur to me that I shouldn't be paying VAT. Mind you, in anticipation of large emergency care bills, my dogs are all insured.

Agree with the above..........vat was the last thing on my mind when I had sick and dying dogs

VAT was not on my mind at the time of treatment either. But I was shocked and surprised to see it included in the invoice after the event. I paid what I had to pay to ensure the best care for my cat, but the point is it is unfair. Items for disabled people are VAT exempt for those receiving DLA, because they are necessary. I do not see how emergency, or indeed any essential vet care, is any different.

I well remember writing to Mrs Thatcher about VAT on sanitary wear and her telling me it was a luxury and taxed as such, so I cannot see them taking VAT off vet care.

Also we chose to have animals so in some ways it is a luxury, I always refer to them as my vice as I don't drink or gamble my luxury/vice is my dogs.

I don't know what VAT is, but I can say that high vet bills for euthanasia is annoying. The vet that euthanized my last dog overcharged me just because he could.

He added ONE lb. to my dog's weight (saw what the scale said, and then saw what the bill said) so that he could charge me the "large dog euthanasia fee".

He does a great job with our animals, and he did a great job again with the euthanasia... as Brownie passed out instantly and it was peaceful and done perfectly.

I was forced to "forgive him" because at least he doesn't misdiagnose our animals or do a poor job of caring for them. Vets here are suspect and lots of them have really caused us harm, except him. THAT is what matters to me.

I don't have insurance, and our family (we have 4 pets) doesn't have a lot of money and high vet bills are always hard to pay for but I can say this... I'm willing to be overcharged if it means the animal is well taken care of.

VAT is a part of life, as in the expression "Nothing is certain but death and taxes"

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/death-and-taxes.html

Meaning

A rather fatalistic and sardonic proverb. It draws on the actual inevitability of death to highlight the difficulty in avoiding the burden of taxes.

Origin

Several famous authors have uttered lines to this effect. The first was Daniel Defoe, in The Political History of the Devil, 1726:

• "Things as certain as death and taxes, can be more firmly believed."

Benjamin Franklin (1706-90) used the form we are currently more familiar with, in a letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy, 1789, which was re-printed in The Works of Benjamin Franklin, 1817:

• "'In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."

Another thought on the theme of death and taxes is Margaret Mitchell's line from her book Gone With the Wind, 1936:

• "Death, taxes and childbirth! There's never any convenient time for any of them."

Thank you, Malka. I was confused by the term as I had never heard it before.

VAT is Value Added Tax - like Sales Tax in the US.