The Beeb and VAT

[Alan @ BroomeAffinity]

I've already heard one person asking what's the easiest way to work out 2.5% off a retail price. I didn't have the patience to attempt to explain how percentages work in this case.

Although I did have to google how to work out how much the VAT is on the gross cost of something ... used to just do cost*(7/47), but obviously that won't work anymore.




Just in case you are wondering, it's cost*(3/23)

Or - as a percentage its 13.05%. I could remember this from when VAT was 15% the first time.

[Platypus]

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

Such massive savings should ensure the consumer-led spending spree out of recession...

Anyone see the even more obvious flaw?

[SallyAnne]

Such massive savings should ensure the consumer-led spending spree out of recession...

Anyone see the even more obvious flaw?

Yeah that's what I was thinking!! Surely it should be the savings on groceries and childrens clothing etc that the real people in the recession are interested in? Not ******* £10k watches and camping equiptment!

F8cking ar*eholes.

[Platypus]

F8cking ar*eholes.

Yup

[Moscow Mule]

It's fixed now...

[ratewhore]

Yeah that's what I was thinking!! Surely it should be the savings on groceries and childrens clothing etc that the real people in the recession are interested in? Not frolicking £10k watches and camping equiptment!

F8cking ar*eholes.

Bollocks to camping if i can afford a £10K watch!!

As for fod and kids clothes, as they're both zero rated for VAT, the PBR makes no difference. Instead we'll just have to rely on the shops discounting goods which they are doing in droves, making the VAT reduction look a bit crap really...

[TheFaQQer]

It's fixed now...

So now the real savings are even more apparent....

• Apple Ipod Nano 16gb. Current price: £149 - save £3.17
• Aspinal of London leather Eaton handbag. Current price: £475 - save £10.11
• Camper walking shoes . Current price: £90 - save £1.91
• TagHeuer watch. Current price: £10,000 - save £212.77

[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.

Obummer and the US have a bit more savvy , at least spending on infrastructure represents a future saving and the money trickles down to productive companies and thence to productive people. Giving away billions to useless unemployed chavs who splurge it on mobile phones made in Taiwan is insane.

The problem with this lot is that the timing of everything is wrong, they start to toughen up welfare rules when unemployment is exploding and nobody can find jobs anyway, so no money is saved. They should have been cutting the public sector, all those pointless non-jobs, but to do it now would just worsen the crisis. If people vote for governments who follow the unworkable idiocy of "socialism" this is what you get.

PS "Socialism" because real socialism is actually much more sensible. Karl Marx said "from each according to his ability" the bit that "socialists" forget. We distribute wealth to those who tell us they are in need with not a thought to the extent to which their problems are their own damn fault.

[Alan @ BroomeAffinity]

If I remember my economics from uni correctly, the way a tax cut helps an economy is less do with what you would save on an individual item and more to do with the total amount you spend:

IE, if you typically spend £1,000 in a month before a tax cut, you will continue to spend £1,000 after the tax cut. So as there's less money going into the treasury more money is kept in the money cycle thus boosting the economy.

(I think!)

[_V_]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/f...-not-20pc.html

Based on a typical supermarket shopping basket the total price would go from £50 to £49.47. This reflects the fact that lots of food items which do not attract VAT would be part of an average shopping basket. It is difficult to see how this measure is going to encourage increased spending when the amount of money being saved by the consumer is likely to be so small

Every little helps, eh?