Going from memory Purchase tax was as you say two rates, the upper one was I think 55% on luxury goods, all applied to the wholesale price before the retailer got them, so there was no workload for the retailer. When vat first came in it was a horrible shock for shopkeepers etc. who had to do all this accounting stuff - they used to run courses to show people how to do it - and it applied to anyone with a threshold turnover of £5000 plus. The starting rate was 10%. A year or two later the labour government put it up to two rates - 8% and 12.5% for things and stuff respectively Then it became 15% overall, then 17.5% and now 20%, and the annual threshold went up year by year to its present level. All blamed on Ted Heath who at the same time gave away our fishing to the Common Market and abolished RPM (Resale Price Maintenance) so loads of small shops disappeared...one could go on but thats enough boredom for one night