The Beeb and VAT

[Board Game Geek]

Well, at least the government have done something !

It doesn't necessarily follow that it's the right something, but still, nevermind eh ?

[Cowboy Bob]

Originally Posted by xoggoth

Yeh! Ridiculous. The recession and the way out of it is about confidence. This does nothing for confidence, is too small to increase spending but will cost a good deal more on borrowing/future taxes.

Exactly. Doing this is likely to reduce confidence IMO as people will have been told the government has done something but they're not going to see it as the difference will be small amounts in small chunks, i.e. supermarket

The way to increase confidence is to show people what they're getting. If they knocked the money off NI or income tax for example, that would have worked. People would see extra money in their paypacket at the end of the month. Even if it was only £10, people would still see the difference which is what counts.

[Purple Dalek]

Originally Posted by TonyEnglish

I've just seen this on the beeb


VAT: What you could save
£149 Apple Ipod Nano 16gb - save £3.73
£475 Aspinal of London leather handbag - save £11.88
£90 Camper walking shoes - save £2.25
£10,000 TagHeuer watch - save £250

Linked to show I'm not making it up

Can aybody see the error?

Well, apart from the obvious, they are all imports, so buying these will only hurt the UK economy even more.

[expat]

Originally Posted by Purple Dalek

Well, apart from the obvious, they are all imports, so buying these will only hurt the UK economy even more.

OK, you come up with a list of British things to buy.

[Purple Dalek]

Originally Posted by expat

OK, you come up with a list of British things to buy.

It's a very short list, and that is my point. This is only going to make people feel good for a short time, and won't help the UK economy.

[TonyEnglish]

A better option would be to target tax cuts to employers. Manufacturing is on it's @rse and has been for a hell of a long time, yet it is manufacturing which could supply a number of largely unskilled jobs. Why not use the same amount of money to encourage more manufacturing so that the economy isn't so dependant on the financial services sector.

[Purple Dalek]

Originally Posted by TonyEnglish

A better option would be to target tax cuts to employers. Manufacturing is on it's @rse and has been for a hell of a long time, yet it is manufacturing which could supply a number of largely unskilled jobs. Why not use the same amount of money to encourage more manufacturing so that the economy isn't so dependant on the financial services sector.

One must remember that historically it has been the labour party that has destroyed UK industry by preventing retooling etc. with punitive taxes when they were about to do so. Just look at ship-building, steel works, mining all major industries ham-strung. Think more recently with the Pensions Grab. Now that Old-Labour is back do you really think they will do anything different to what they've achieved previously?

[DodgyAgent]

Originally Posted by TonyEnglish

I've just seen this on the beeb


VAT: What you could save
£149 Apple Ipod Nano 16gb - save £3.73
£475 Aspinal of London leather handbag - save £11.88
£90 Camper walking shoes - save £2.25
£10,000 TagHeuer watch - save £250

Linked to show I'm not making it up

Can aybody see the error?

Using the Tag watch example. If the watch was £10k with 17.5% vat, then minus the vat it was 8510.64. Adding the 15% Vat makes the new price 9787.23, a saving of 212.77, somewhat less than the £250 quoted.

All the person has done is reduce the overall starting price by 2.5%.

I do it like that all the time

[expat]

Originally Posted by Purple Dalek

One must remember that historically it has been the labour party that has destroyed UK industry by preventing retooling etc. with punitive taxes when they were about to do so. Just look at ship-building, steel works, mining all major industries ham-strung. Think more recently with the Pensions Grab. Now that Old-Labour is back do you really think they will do anything different to what they've achieved previously?

I don't see that it was Labour punitive taxes that killed off those industries.

1. Mining. We all know who shut that down. Regardless of good or bad, why and how it was done, it was done by the Thatcher government.

2. Shipbuilding. Done cheaper by Poland, better by Japan, and both by Korea. Nothing would have made it survive the way it was.

3. Steel. Similar, plus mistakes by British Steel, and then a combination of mistakes and home-country-bias on the part of Dutch-owned Corus.

All were doomed anyway, but none went because of anybody's taxes.

[Purple Dalek]

Originally Posted by expat

I don't see that it was Labour punitive taxes that killed off those industries.

1. Mining. We all know who shut that down. Regardless of good or bad, why and how it was done, it was done by the Thatcher government.

2. Shipbuilding. Done cheaper by Poland, better by Japan, and both by Korea. Nothing would have made it survive the way it was.

3. Steel. Similar, plus mistakes by British Steel, and then a combination of mistakes and home-country-bias on the part of Dutch-owned Corus.

All were doomed anyway, but none went because of anybody's taxes.

Mining was destroyed well before Maggie. By her time it was nothing but a work-fare scheme. All she did was say 'no more'

Same with shipbuilding.

And as was done to shipbuilding was done to the Steel industry the punitive 'profiteering' taxes that prevented the renewal of equipment and basically forcing the companies into bankruptcy and nationalisation.

They were all gone before Maggie, she just stopped the bleed on the UK economy becoming a full blown haemorrhage when globalisation came along.