Alistair Darling was considering increasing VAT to 18.5% to help
pay Britain's debt, another
data handling bungle has revealed.
A draft version of a document containing details of discussions
about increasing the VAT rate in 2011 was published on a government
website by mistake.
The VAT information should have been removed before the final
version of the document appeared on the
Office of Public Sector
Information website.
The site offers services to find, use, share and trade public
sector information.
Shadow chancellor George Osborne said the document showed Gordon
Brown had a "secret plan" to increase VAT permanently after the
next election, according to the Metro newspaper.
The revelation comes just a day after chancellor
Alistair Darling announced a 13-month reduction in VAT from
17.5% to 15% starting next Monday.
A treasury spokesman said last night that the change to 18.5%
was just an option that was considered and later discarded.