The great jaffa cake debate

The issue (or spectre?) of VAT was raised in class today, and we had a little discussion about which kinds of products should and shouldn't be exempt from sales tax. The magazine Which? has this neat little summary of the issue. If you are interested in following up the question of whether or not a jaffa cake is a luxury or a necessity, you can read this BBC blog post (or here for a more of a foodie angle). Before today I wasn't aware that the heart of the problem for McVities was that only chocolate-coated biscuits are considered a luxury...