Wednesday September 25th has been declared Tax Parity Day by VAT Club JB, an organisation campaigning to have the hospitality sector made subject to the same rules on VAT as the supermarkets, which could see prices lowered and more profits retained for investment into pub furniture upgrades and building decoration.
In particular, as the supermarkets pay little to no VAT on a large proportion of the food they sell, this allows them to offset some of the cost of alcoholic beverages like wine and beer - meaning it would be all but impossible for pubs to sell them at the same prices.
What's more, pubs not only have to pay the full 20% rate of VAT on the drinks they serve; they must also pay it on the hot food that they serve, meaning they cannot make the same savings as the supermarkets are able to make on the cold ingredients that they sell.
VAT Club JB - headed up by veteran campaigner Jacques Borel - are now holding Tax Parity Day as a way to highlight the issue, and to raise awareness of the potential benefits of reducing the rate of VAT for hospitality sector businesses from 20% to 5%.
On Tax Parity Day, participating establishments are due to lower their prices by 7.5% - equivalent to about three fifths of the 'full' decrease that could be achieved if VAT were reduced from 20% to 5% for the hospitality sector.
Significantly, this is based on industry research of just how much of a discount most companies and free house landlords would be willing to pass on to their customers - so the other two fifths would go towards investment such as better wages for staff, and purchases of new pub furniture and so on.
Knock-on positive effects on employment could also be achieved, as VAT Club JB predicts that the upswing in customer levels would require a further 10% increase in the total hospitality sector workforce, in order to deal with a larger number of orders.
And for consumers, it would not necessarily mean an increase in consumption of alcohol; rather, bringing the cost of hot served meals in line with that of cold shop-bought ingredients could allow more people to eat out more often, rather than cooking at home.
This could have obvious social benefits, but may also have health benefits too, by allowing more people to eat while on nights out - and reducing the risk of consuming large quantities of alcohol on an empty stomach.