Taxation recently covered an appeal by the English Bridge Union. The Upper Tribunal decided to refer to the Court of Justice of the EU the question of whether bridge constituted a sport for VAT purposes. This gave rise to a little mockery in the Taxation team – couldn’t the UK tribunal reach its own decision on this point?

I take it all back.

At a lunch with friends on Sunday, I mentioned this case – the hostess being a bridge player – and several minutes of discussion ensued.

What about darts? Or snooker? Are these sports or games? How can bridge be a sport when there’s no physical action? But what about the competitive element? And so on.

The consensus was that it was a good thing the issue had been referred to the European court because we couldn’t decide either.

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