VAT increases?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12051736

Is the government actually reducing public spending? There are plenty of headlines but the reality is the 'cuts' are over so many years it's not much more than a freeze. Coupled with ring fenced areas which will continue to see rises public spending is only going to go one way - up.

I'd really love to see a government which truly supported a smaller public sector, we haven't got one, and wouldn't have if it was a tory majority either. Cameron is too much like Blair for me, neither right nor left - just popular.
 
this deficit is just an excuse for the tories to push their ideological BS, cut off the poor, squeeze the middle classes, hopefully the libdems will get fed up and bring down the government, the tories will stab cameron in the back, then maybe we might get a less plastic PM, mind you there is no way the tories would win an overall majority if an election happens in the next year, it would be a lib/lab coalition
 
MrMoonX said:
this deficit is just an excuse for the tories to push their ideological BS, cut off the poor, squeeze the middle classes, hopefully the libdems will get fed up and bring down the government, the tories will stab cameron in the back, then maybe we might get a less plastic PM, mind you there is no way the tories would win an overall majority if an election happens in the next year, it would be a lib/lab coalition
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Didn't the gap between rich and poor widen during 13 years of Labour and didn't they also squeeze the very same middle classes ? As for cutting off the poor, does the 10p tax band ring any bells ?

Didn't Gordon Brown also borrow 40 billion a year while the economy was good and sit in the Treasury hotseat with arguably the most profligate borrow and spend period in British fiscal history ?

Before any accusations of Tory fanboy come my way, I live and work in an area that traditionally is left to rot by them but I have to admit that I have no time for Labour for the train wreck that they left the UK in.
 
Funny how every company or most are increasing prices based on new vat coming. Instead why dont they lower prices so the vat increase doesnt change the prices.

Also no Von, the poor were better off with labour. So not much of a gap cos poor went too bad off compared to last time tories were in power.

Rich (ppl with jobs more or less) probs dont like labour but poor do.
 
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Lysander said:
That's not really a valid point. It's like saying "name a band that everyone likes" or "name a food that everyone likes". There is not one thing in the world that every single person likes.

Not even strawberries.
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Parfait. Everyone likes Parfait.
 
Did anyone so much as notice the vat decrease we had there? Apart from so odd prices in WHSmiths? That soon became their usual x.99p?

Stop panicing
 
SkeeterUK said:
Funny how every company or most are increasing prices based on new vat coming. Instead why dont they lower prices so the vat increase doesnt change the prices.
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Most people won't be looking for price changes prior to the VAT increase but they will be on Jan 4th. If the prices are increased ahead of the VAT change then the retailer can swallow the extra VAT without having to raise the inc VAT price.

This enables then to claim they're being the good guys and not passing on the VAT increase.

EDIT: From an admin standpoint it's also far easier to slowly increase prices over a period of weeks rather than trying to adjust the prices of an entire product range overnight in time for opening the day after a bank holiday.
 
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Tories increase VAT, next vote; Labour go booo and hiss about the Tories raising VAT and thus stiffing everyone, win the vote, lower VAT as a ploy again, thus spunking money away that we can't afford, fast forward 5 or 10 years, Tories go booo and hiss at Labour for putting us in further debt, Tories win the next vote, and raise VAT, rinse, and repeat ad infinitum. That's the formula isn't it?
 
toon_mad said:
sorry if been posted already, got a letter from my phone company 3 today saying that the government are increase VAT from 17.5% to 20% from 4th january 2011

this government is rubbish :mad:
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You found this out in November? Where have you been? :confused:
 
Talbs13 said:
You will barely notice it in day to day purchases as retailers will soke up the extra 2.5%.
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I dunno, depends on situation I think. Some goods may not increase in price but others will to compensate. For every 5 items staying at £9.99 you will doubtless get one going up from £11.99 to £12.49 or whatever.

A good example is pubs, you always hear in the budget about the government putting and extra 1p on cider, or 2p on a pint of beer, but when was the last time you ever saw a pub change it's prices by 2p? 5p is pretty much the smallest unit charged by.

As mentioned given that they've had plenty of warning, many retailers may have already worked in the price increases early 'on the sly' so they can fix them in the New Year.
 
HangTime said:
I dunno, depends on situation I think. Some goods may not increase in price but others will to compensate. For every 5 items staying at £9.99 you will doubtless get one going up from £11.99 to £12.49 or whatever.

A good example is pubs, you always hear in the budget about the government putting and extra 1p on cider, or 2p on a pint of beer, but when was the last time you ever saw a pub change it's prices by 2p? 5p is pretty much the smallest unit charged by.

As mentioned given that they've had plenty of warning, many retailers may have already worked in the price increases early 'on the sly' so they can fix them in the New Year.
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That has nothing to do with VAT at all though. The VAT increase is increasing prices of things on the highest VAT rate by 2.1%. For every £100 you spend including VAT 17.5%, you'll have to pay an additional £2.10 on top of that, so £102.10.

I think the rate of VAT currently is ridiculous, but it's such an insignificant amount that 99% of people will simply not be bothered by it. You only start to notice it on large purchases, you have to spend £500 to see an increase of £10, and £10 out of £500 is seriously minute.
 
daz said:
The tax on consumption is a good one really - much better than an equivalent increase in income tax or NI. Putting it on VAT means that tourists and non domiciles, as well as casual workers/people getting paid cash in hand are also contributing towards the economy on some level.
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The problem with taxes like VAT is that they're easy to evade compared to income tax and result in an increasing black market for goods and services as VAT increases, with people importing goods from other countries without paying any tax rather than buying from the UK economy.
 
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