COLUMN: Why I just can’t swallow the pasty tax (From Lancashire Telegraph)

COLUMN: Why I just can’t swallow the pasty tax

1:52pm Friday 27th April 2012 in Shuiab Khan column By Shuiab Khan

First they came for the cigarettes, and then the booze.

And now it is the turn of our beloved pasty.

Okay, the first two don’t directly affect me, but you have to stop somewhere.

In a week when we realised that things were worse than they were before, there were protests at Downing Street over plans to charge 20 per cent on savouries.

Now, I haven’t been to a protest for a while but this was one I actually would have joined. I love the pasty – it is the only thing some of us can eat in the town centre.

Much like fish and chips, the pasty is the one food that you can have without ever thinking you have been ripped off. Okay, maybe I should add the ‘aloo gobee’ (potatoes and cauliflower curry) to that list.

To have to pay 20 per cent extra for it is going to cripple the economy. Yes, I said it. The pasty tax will cripple the economy.

The point is, the pasty has long been the food of the poor man.

When I was completely skint I could always afford the simple pasty. It was cheap, it was tasty and it filled you up.

At the moment you cannot get anything for less than 50 pence in this town.

And I have noticed that people have stopped sharing their bag of cheese and onion crisps.

Hey – when it sets you back 75 pence you can ill afford to give away 10 pence worth to anyone!

There are many things we will stand for: ridiculously high insurance; the fact that they charge 30 pence to go to the toilet at Euston Station.

And we will even stay quiet at the way they charge you for using your money.

But taxing my pasty? There is a revolution on the horizon and I will be leading it.