When is a potato chip not really a potato chip? When the decision is being made in a sales tax hearing.

A recent ruling will save a lot of money for one company — but probably has its customers a little confused.

After a lengthy dispute in Great Britain, the city of London ruled that Pringles — the popular potato-chip-like snack — are not potato chips.

It’s a key distinction, because potato-derived snacks (made from potato flour, potato starch, etc.) are subject to a 17.5% London sales tax. Pringles’ key defense was that the “crisps” aren’t made from potato — they’re just slices of baked dough.

The snack met the judge’s very “technical” three-pronged requirement for exemption:

1. They don’t look like a chip
2. They don’t feel like a chip, and
3. They don’t taste like a chip.

It begs the question: If they aren’t potato chips, and they aren’t made from potato …. what are they exactly?

Tags: Lighter side, Sales tax