VAT is going up to 20% say government

Did the conservatives actually say they weren't planning to raise VAT? I thought it was well known that every party would have to do this at some point.
They said they would exhaust other avenues first, but lets be honest - we're in a very deep **** hole and they'll have no choice. Cheers Gordo!
 
The problem is if they raise tax labour are just going to get in next time :(

Not necessarily, that's why it's likely to be done quickly while they can still blame Labour (and they've already promised to counter or reverse several Labour tax rises including cancelling the NI rise and reversing the effect of Fiscal drag for the last 13 years).

A lot of people will actually be better off under the new system even with the VAT rise (that Labour was also planning) (source).

All they need to do is ensure that the blame for the economic crisis the country is in remains with those responsible, Labour and Gordon Brown.
 
This is what you get after years of financial mismanagement under Labour.

I hope I don't hear this crap everytime the current government make a change that effects my pocket.

Before the election Cameron would say "Well I'll tell you what I won't do" in reference to a decision to what Labour had/have done. Now this?

The debt needs to be reduced and can be done in a number of ways.

[insert omg its only 2.5% tax]
 
I hope I don't hear this crap everytime the current government make a change that effects my pocket.

Before the election Cameron would say "Well I'll tell you what I won't do" in reference to a decision to what Labour had/have done. Now this?

The debt needs to be reduced, but going straight to the public and so quickly doesn't make me a happy chap.

[insert omg its only 2.5% tax]

There is no other way, the public is one of the groups that's been funneled money that the country didn't have. Arguing that they shouldn't be involved in sorting out that overspending is rather odd.

The Tories always said there were going to be tax rises as well as spending cuts, just in a better proportion for economic stability than Labour offered.
 
VAT is largely a tax on disposable income, so this is a good move in my opinion. It's also a good tax in that it encompasses people that get paid in cash and would otherwise pay no income tax or NI, as well as foreign tourists (even though some are eligible to claim some back... not many people bother, do they? :o) and people like non-domiciles or those who don't get paid via PAYE.

In combination with an increase in the tax free allowance for those on lower wages, this works out well for a lot of people.

I think a sliding scale in terms of tax free allowance might be the best way to achieve a "fairer" society at this point in time (without a revolution in terms of taxation). So that if you're on minimum wage earning £10k a year, you pay no income tax (i.e. your tax free allowance might be £10k), whereas someone on £20k a year, might have a tax free allowance of £8k. Obviously, it would have to be worked out such that someone doesn't get a pay increase, and earn less.
 
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I hope I don't hear this crap everytime the current government make a change that effects my pocket.
Well what do you expect? Labour have managed the finances disastrously, and the new government has to pick up the pieces.

There are several ways to raise tax income, and a VAT raise is one of the better.
 
2) It doesn't affect the 'poor' as much as the papers will make out. Generally speaking it doesn't touch the 'basics' (in many ways it can still be considered a luxury tax).

Because, remember folks, the poor shouldn't have nice things :rolleyes: It's all very well describing clothes, electronic goods, games, take-away food, fuel etc. as luxuries but would you really want to live without them?

Why not raise income tax instead?
 
Yeah...getting the 10p tax band swiped away from me really stung. :(

Indeed, it was an absolutely shocking move from a supposed party of the people.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/stephanieflanders/2010/05/give_and_take.html

Stephanie Flanders states that the tax band is going to rise £1000 from April 2011, That's massively better than Labour's habit of freezing them. (The tax bands rose by just under £3000 during 13 years of Labour, including the £600 panic increase in response to the backlash at the abolition of the 10p tax rate).

Rewarding the workers at last :)
 
Because, remember folks, the poor shouldn't have nice things :rolleyes: It's all very well describing clothes, electronic goods, games, take-away food, fuel etc. as luxuries but would you really want to live without them?

That's not really the point, by ensuring essentials are tax free or low tax, you reduce the theoretical impact on the low paid. If they make lifestyle choices that increase their tax liability, that's not anyone else's problem.

Why not raise income tax instead?

Because it punishes hard working people if you increase it at the bottom and increases the use of tax avoidance techniques if you increase it at the top?

Giving an avoidable (on essentials) tax increase is a much better idea.
 
The problem is if they raise tax labour are just going to get in next time :(

This is the main reason I expect the coalition to last. If Cameron and Clegg are serious about sorting out the deficit, they're going to be very unpopular in the short term. The pain from the economic downturn is going to be amplified by job loses, and pay freezes, in the public sector and tax rises. Two years from now, a Labour party with a new leader and without the difficulties of being the incumbent stands a very good chance of sweeping back into power. But, in four or five years time, things should be picking up and the coalition should be able to point to a good economic record of dealing with a tough problem.
 
Because, remember folks, the poor shouldn't have nice things :rolleyes: It's all very well describing clothes, electronic goods, games, take-away food, fuel etc. as luxuries but would you really want to live without them?

Why not raise income tax instead?

Because if you have a minimum wage 40h/week job and it goes any higher than the 20% it is at now (it was 10% only a year a go), it gets really hard to pay the rent and get enough food to live. I'd rather have higher VAT on things that are 'luxury' than taxed on my wage that pays for things I *need*.
 
Coalition Government Con/Lib had agreed to rise VAT from 17.5% to 20.0% by end of 2011 when the emergency budget to be announced within 50 days say the latest BBC news.

Once again, David Cameron is lied to the British Peoples when he told Labour Party that he will not rise any VAT under conservative government.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/10112936.stm

Thank alots Tory/Lib!

Bring back Labour Party !!!!

Yes indeed. Bring back Labour who presided in over 150 tax rises via the back door.

As things stand, I will apparently be stung for 500 a year under a VAT rise ...... around 10 pounds a week. While not ecstatic, I can certainly manage that and VAT at 20% will raise around 12 billion a year that will make significant bites into the structural defecit of over 160 billion pounds that was left by Labour.

Spending cuts and tax rises are inevitable no matter who got elected but I will give the Lib/Con coalition the benefit of cautious optimism.

Anyone who thinks such a monumental defecit can be tackled short term is short sighted to see the least.
 
Because it punishes hard working people if you increase it at the bottom and increases the use of tax avoidance techniques if you increase it at the top?

The rise of tax avoidance is overstated. And as for punishment, you're talking about taking £10-£12 billion out of people's pockets with VAT anyway, why not prefer to take it in a more progressive fashion.

Giving an avoidable (on essentials) tax increase is a much better idea.

You prefer a regressive tax that encourages people not to spend their money in the middle of recession?
 
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