Purchase tax
Purchase Tax was a tax on 'luxury' goods sold in the UK from 1940 until 1973.
On 21 October 1940, during World War II, Purchase Tax was introduced at a rate of 33 1⁄3% as a tax on sales of "luxury" goods in order to reduce the deemed wastage of raw materials.
At various times the tax was set at different rates depending the government-determined degree of "luxury" of the item.
In preparation for joining the European Economic Community (EU) on 2 April 1973 Purchase Tax was abolished and replaced by Value Added Tax (VAT) at a rate of 10%, shortly to be lowered to 8%.
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