The Common Purse Agreement entitles the Isle of Man to a share in the United Kingdom's Customs and Excise revenues in return for being in customs union with the UK and not charging any import duties on goods from the UK, or that have been imported through the UK. The agreement is so called because it effectively sets up a 'common purse' for the receipt of excise duties and revenue, which is then split between both treasuries according to agreed formulas. Common Duties Agreement There were various agreements dating back to the 17th century. In 1911 the Isle of Man Constitution Committee (the MacDonnell Inquiry) described the Common Purse agreement in these terms: In summary, the combined Customs revenue was first divided proportional to population. In addition to this, the Island's government received a sum per visitor. It appears that this additional allowance was significant: Customs and Excise Agreement 1979 The latest formalisation of this arrangement was signed on 15 October 1979 as the Customs and Excise Agreement 1979, and introduced by the Isle of Man Act 1979 (An Act of Parliament). It is basically a revenue-sharing system, and is the latest agreement that builds on the Customs Etc. Agreement 1957, which stated that Tynwald could not introduce any differences to UK indirect taxation (except on beer) without the permission of the UK Treasury (in preparation for the UK Parliament empowering Tynwald with control over Manx indirect taxation in the Customs (Isle of Man) Act 1958). In addition, this means that VAT must be charged on Mann at the same rate as in the UK, and all VAT receipts are paid to the UK Treasury (but then repaid to the Manx Treasury through this agreement), but the agreement is generally accepted as being advantageous to the Isle of Man. There have been differences in indirect taxation agreed, for example in 2003 UK betting and gaming duty was set at 15%, whilst the Isle of Man brought in a lower rate of 10%. According to the Isle of Man Treasury, 'Neither the amount actually received, nor the exact method of calculation of the Island's share of the common duties and taxes, is in the public domain'. It is therefore not known how much is received by the Isle of Man from the United Kingdom. Despite this, in a Tynwald debate in December 2005, the Minister for Tourism and Leisure revealed that