Reply to: No to cheap online booze and fags

[threaded]

Tony, you give the impression the government don't want this smuggling to happen, but oh yes they do! The more smuggled alcohol and fags, the more money eventually finds its way into the pockets of organised criminals and terrorists, who then use it to rip off, scam or even try and kill the likes of you and me, thereby giving the government ever more reasons to bring in dumb ass laws to 'protect us'.

I really despair that people in general can't see through all of this...

[BoredBloke]

Smuggled cigs loses Brown £3.5 billion alone. If the duty was lowered then then so too would the margin for the smugglers. In 2000 it was estimated that 25% of all the cigs sold in the UK were smuggled. If the thick fecker actually dropped his tax, then perhaps the amounts smuggled and those bought by people going to Europe to stock up would drop. As a result he might actually see a rise in the amount of tax brought in. I would have thought it was obvious that it is better to have these things purchased in this country as opposed to another.

[The Clown Beater]

That's for leaders, not for managers.

Leaders, unmanagers and sheep. There is nothing else.

[Francko]

Agree 100%. They all sound like the typical manager - just interested in doing a "steering job" but not interested in taking any responsibility. Whatever happened to leadership?

That's for leaders, not for managers.

[The Clown Beater]

Just remember, legislation will only move things into the black market!

Why do you think people are trying to get rid of cash...

[Gonzo]

Our political parties have unified there simply isn't a choice anymore so its not about stupidity its about a corrupt political elite interested in power for powers sake.

All I hear are plumby to$$ers or scotsman telling me how much of my cash they have poured into ..... and how much they intend to pour into ....... yet they manage to avoid outcomes other than statistics they can corrupt to justify their snouts in the trough.

We are fecked, you're fecked, I'm fecked we're all fecked!!

Agree 100%. They all sound like the typical manager - just interested in doing a "steering job" but not interested in taking any responsibility. Whatever happened to leadership?

[DimPrawn]

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DOOMED!!!

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[vista]

Oops

"The bottom line is that people vote for the Govt that sets local duties - if it bothered people enough they would have voted them out."

Never ever underestimate the stupidness of the UK population.

Our political parties have unified there simply isn't a choice anymore so its not about stupidity its about a corrupt political elite interested in power for powers sake.

All I hear are plumby to$$ers or scotsman telling me how much of my cash they have poured into ..... and how much they intend to pour into ....... yet they manage to avoid outcomes other than statistics they can corrupt to justify their snouts in the trough.

We are fecked, you're fecked, I'm fecked we're all fecked!!

[Gonzo]

It isn't a good outcome but at least I still have an excuse to do little weekend trips away Fags are 4 euro a packet in Holland and 3.5 euro a packet in Luxembourg, I think they are even cheaper in Spain but I have never been there.

France has been putting up the duty on cigarettes quite a lot recently, so much so that if you do the booze cruise over to Calais it pays to drive the half hour or so along the motorway towards Bruges. The first place over the border in Belgium is called Adinkerke. They have a thriving industry selling cigarettes in bulk to the English. I even saw a refreshment van with a sign saying "PG Tips sold here". Tragic!

[BoredBloke]

Would that be an intelligent pig or a dumb one

[xoggoth]

Long time since I did transient fluid flow equations. I am mostly too drunk on vodka anyway. An alternative would be to hide crates of bottles in the pig.

PS For everyone except HyperD a pig is a barrelly thing that is pushed through pipelines to clean out the sludge.

[VectraMan]

I thought it would go this way as it sounded too good to be true. The judges had to do what's right for the member governments even though they should really be impartial and base a decision on the law.

The real issue here is attempting to have free trade without bringing taxation into line.

[threaded]

This judgement shows just how crap the EU judges are. It defies both common sense and logic.

My initial reaction though is that they want an appeal, that way they can get their fee again.

[hyperD]

We have gas and electric coming from the continent, so why not a booze pipeline? A 6" diameter pipe could supply all my vodka needs.

Not sure that could be entirely possible - Xogg - transient fluid flow equations?

Lots of cavitation and low vapour pressures... mmmm, nasty...

[tim123]

Persoanlly I think it stinks. The EU was supposed to be a common market. Yes it's common when it comes to meddling in things we don't want but not for the things we do. This was supposed to be a ruling based on Justice and not what is good for each government concerned. Is it fair that somebody in the Euro zone can simply pop over a border to take advantage of the lower taxes in other countries while others cannot simply because of the distances concerned. Form my perspective, a jaunt to France to stock up would be a hell of a treck. Somebody in the south east can simply jump on the ferry.

Having such high levels of duty only increases the margins for those smuggling goods.

The thing here Tony is that Excise is a tax. And the EU doesn't have juristriction on taxes. EU law generally respects the individual government's rights to decide to decide how it is going to raise revenue.

The UK chooses to bias more of its revenue collection towards Excise and some countires chose to bias more of their revenue collection towards other things. You may only have to pay 2p on a bottle of wine in france, but as an employer the NI rates are astronomical.

tim