VAT is a nightmare. Like all taxes it's far more complicated than it should be and there are numerous loopholes or benefits that help people and small businesses, but at the same time are there to be exploited too.
VAT is applied to most things in the UK but not food bought from a store or take away food from restaurants. This makes it a nightmare for say a local Fish & Chip shop. Someone buys fish & chips and takes it home, no VAT to pay for the business owner. The same meal served on a plate and he has to pay 20% VAT. Although there are various schemes like the flat tax scheme and of course, owners only pay VAT if their business turns over more than £90,000 a year.
We pay ridiculous amounts of tax in the UK, especially on petrol and beer etc, plus VAT, income tax, council tax and National Insurance. Personally I don't mind and would happily pay a little more to help others if asked BUT! The biggest problem I can see here is not how much we pay, but how it is appropriated and then spent. So much is wasted or lost in the ether. Bottom line is it doesn't matter how much people pay or the government takes, it's how it is used and spent that counts. The US military budget being the prime example.
There should be no excuse and especially here in the UK we should be able to afford far better healthcare and policing and public services, infrastructure etc if the money was used more wisely.
Back to VAT though, I could see riots starting if people were suddenly asked to pay 20% more on everything. Although ours was 12.5% and increased to 20% and all people did was bitch and moan for a bit.