UK Deficit & Debt Reduction Plan

[Mich the Tester]

Because a "bit" less won't cut it - it needs to be a lot less.

And whenever the government tries to cut tuppence off any spending, they get taken to court for breaching "human rights".

Alright then, a lot less.

[Bunk]

WHS - it's the old standing in a bucket whilst trying to lift yourself upwards. It just is no going to happen.

I'd sell London to the saudis or something to pay off the debt.

Remember who's in charge here. We'll sell off the rest of the UK. Probably won't get much for it though

[DodgyAgent]

In order to get the deficit & debt down, why don't the UK government just slap a motherf**k load of tax on luxury items, e.g.

1) an extra £2 of tax on a packet of cigs
2) an extra £1 of tax on a pint of beer
3) an extra £2 of tax on a bottle of wine
4) put 20% tax on flights (or increase by that much if already exists)
5) increase VAT on foreign holidays by 150%
6) increase VAT on cars with > 2ltr engine by 20%
7) increase VAT on cars with > 300hp by 300%
8) put extra £2 tax on cinema tickets
9) increase VAT on jewelery & watches by 100%
10) increase VAT on cakes, sweets & chocolate by 300%
11) extra £200 tax charge on new TVs that are > 32inch
12) extra £500 tax charge on new TVs that are > 40inch
13) extra £1500 tax charge on new TVs that are 50inch or bigger
14) new tax charge of £5 on tickets for sporting events that are televised.

Basically, nobody has any fun for at least the next 12months whilst we get things under control.

I have a better idea. Why dont we simply get the government spend the tax it already has properly? Much better idea to halve the public sector workforce and halve their pension funds.

[Mich the Tester]

6) increase VAT on cars with > 2ltr engine by 20%
7) increase VAT on cars with > 300hp by 300%

What with Jaguar Land Rover employing more than 25,000 people in the midlands directly and probably tens of thousands more jobs at suppliers building cars with big powerful engines, destroying their domestic market wouldn't be very clever.

[lukemg]

Forget all this, the defecit is here to stay and the debts accrued will NEVER be paid back.
Existing debts will however be eroded by inflation = tax on savers and pensioners.
Reason - NO ONE can get elected by promising to do this or re-elected if they do it in gvmt.
Short-term election cycles inevitably lead to this spending cycle especially when Labour bounce in and start bribing everyone in sight.
Any good news - Yes, it's only in situations like this that any gvmt can make any cuts to the public sector costs, benefits etc (which we all know is a black hole giving little benefit) without riots in the streets.
So - How does that affect me ?
Not much, plan as ever is to get paid enough to insulate me from any of these changes, so far, job done got throught the recession unscathed and things are picking up !

[SimonMac]

If only the government had some shares in LLOYDS it could sell

LLOYDS BANKING GRP Share Price | LLOY.L- Yahoo! UK & Ireland Finance

[Bunk]

What with Jaguar Land Rover employing more than 25,000 people in the midlands directly and probably tens of thousands more jobs at suppliers building cars with big powerful engines, destroying their domestic market wouldn't be very clever.

Neither is Jeff