FatSuperman
Well-known member
- Feb 25, 2016
- 2,923
no... i dont know why this myth persists, if you remove tariffs, goods are cheaper. we'd remove tariffs leaving the EU. though you've missed the point anyway, which was whether we can shop at all or not.
Ignoring VAT, ignoring excise, HMRC took around £3.3 billion in import tax last year. If you think they will remove tariffs and give that up then I must assume you are horrendously drunk.
Imports from around the world, including the EU are going to change significantly. In the long term, on some things the consumer will probably win on, on others we'll lose. In the medium term, whilst we use WTO rules and tariffs, who knows! It's very very unlikely to be cheaper for the consumer, especially if you are importing from the EU. Putting the tariffs etc to one side, there are the practicalities of actually moving goods - everything from/to the EU will now have to clear customs. This can do nothing but add cost and delays to the current process. This will translate to increases to the consumer - hopefully this will be offset in the longer term by other factors, but who knows right now.
If you've ever bought anything online from the states you'll know what happens when it arrives in the U.K. You get a call / email / letter from an agent at the port letting you know they've cleared it through customs for you and that the fee is £x (duty, vat, clearance fees). This will probably be what happens for everything from the EU as well. HMRC IT system is never going to handle that volume