A link to the story in the media.
Because without a link some people might believe that this is all a conspiracy story. After all, I'm fond enough of commenting on stories of corporate greed, and this one is pretty unbelievable.
Apparently retailers have been cunningly claiming back VAT on purchases made by consumers who are travelling outside the EU. Perfectly legal, except that the total price that the consumers are paying is not reduced.
If you look at a invoice or receipt, it will usually have a line for each item listing the cost, and another line at the end totalling the VAT due. That charge for the VAT is supposed to be paid to the government. If VAT is not payable, it is not unreasonable to cross out the VAT line, deduct it from the total payable, and pay the reduced amount.
It would be amusing to try this in an airport shop.
One additional detail that has a bearing here, is that to claim back the VAT, the shops have to produce a copy of the boarding pass from people leaving the EU in order to claim the VAT back. Apparently the shops have been demanding a copy of the boarding pass from everyone and sometimes claiming it is for security purposes (which of course carries the unspoken threat of being arrested and if the airport police are bored, being prodded with automatic weapons and given a free body cavity inspection).
The retailers are claiming that it is too much like hard work to charge two different prices (one with and one without the VAT), which may well be a reasonable objection. If they don't claim the VAT back.
Now if there were a likely looking geezer speaking in a Cockney accent, hanging around the boarding gate for flights to the USA, and demanding a "Kray tax". And waving at someone dressed in a police uniform and carrying a machine gun, and saying that you uneed to pay or you'll get arrested, it would be something not entirely unreasonable to call it robbery.
So would it not be reasonable to call what these shops are doing robbery too?