Fecking mess

[NoddY]

Unless you are suggesting that VAT becomes banded, with the price you pay for goods dependent on how much you earn?

Banded VAT sounds like madness - an even greater enforcement cost.

Yes VAT is regressive with respect to income but not consumption. But because the poor generally consume less, use State services more and what they do consume is generally exempt anyway e.g. food they should be better off.

It's really about the transfer of money, choice and resposibility from government to the indiviual. The incentive to earn is still there - you keep it all. This gives people security and the choice to save, invest or spend.

[Scaroth of the Jagaroth]

Banded VAT sounds like madness - an even greater enforcement cost.

Yes VAT is regressive with respect to income but not consumption. But because the poor generally consume less, use State services more and what they do consume is generally exempt anyway e.g. food they should be better off.

It's really about the transfer of money, choice and resposibility from government to the indiviual. The incentive to earn is still there - you keep it all. This gives people security and the choice to save, invest or spend.

But VAT is, in effect, banded now. There are different rates for different goods. What you are propounding is that the state decides what poor people should be allowed to buy (and hence is made VAT exempt) and what items should be deemed as conspicuous consumption for the rich only and heavily taxed.

No thanks, comrade.

[NoddY]

No thanks, comrade.

I think this discussion is closed after that. Maybe you should be thinking of some solutions instead of calling people communists. I don't pretend this idea is perfect, but at least it's an idea.

[Churchill]

I think this discussion is closed after that. Maybe you should be thinking of some solutions instead of calling people communists. I don't pretend this idea is perfect, but at least it's an idea.

Noddy is Niall and I claim my five pounds - non taxable of course!

[wendigo100]

Back on topic

The executive Chairman of HM Revenue and Customs, David Varney, disagreed with some of the criticisms (of the tax credits system): "We reject any assertion that overpayments have occurred because the tax credit system is either unduly complex or hard to implement" he said.

"This is a system benefiting over 6 million families, the vast majority of whom have faced no difficulties with their payments. We have already put in place many improvements to deal with the problems raised."

But hold on Mr Varney:

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman, Edward Leigh MP, subjected the HM Revenue and Customs to some of the most scathing criticisms it has ever received.

Describing the system as a "nightmare" and "frustratingly arcane" he said: "The Revenue has yet to produce reliable evidence that the flood of public money being wasted under the previous tax credits scheme through fraud and error has been stemmed to any degree."

Blair's legacy is unprecedented incompetence throughout government in the UK.