VAT-cut restaurant attacked by rivals

A RESTAURANT owner claims his rivals subjected him to a campaign of bullying for passing a VAT cut on to his customers.

Philippe Brusa, who runs a sushi restaurant in Thonon-les-Bains in the Haute-Savoie, dropped every price on his menu when the tax rate fell from 19.6% to 5.5% in July.

He then gave a quote to a local newspaper expressing his disappointment that other restaurants in the town had not changed their prices and had kept the extra profit for themselves.

Shortly after the article appeared, Brusa claims six local restaurateurs charged into the building to confront him about the comments.

A week later, graffiti insults were sprayed on his windows and he found the exhaust pipe of his car blocked up.

He also says he has had an increasing number of takeaway orders by phone that are never collected. He has lodged a formal complaint about the graffiti with the local police.

"We are not in Russia. We have the right to express ourselves," Brusa said.

"They told me they would have the restaurant closed down by the end of the year. They wanted to wear us down psychologically, but if they think we are going to close they are wrong."

"The only thing we have done wrong is to say out loud what others were thinking to themselves."

The VAT cut for restaurants is designed to increase business and create more than 40,000 jobs, including ones for 20,000 young people part-time.

One third of the VAT cut is supposed to help pay for the menu price cuts, with another third going to increase staffing. The final third should go to improving restaurant facilities.

However there is nothing stopping restaurants from benefiting from the tax reduction without passing any of the savings on to customers.