VAT rises to 20%!

Broon the buffoon

Completely agree! Almost as much of a bumbling buffoon as Boris Johnson but without the popularity :rolleyes:

I turn 18 in just under 4months (not that I’m counting :diablo:) and although it’s only the local elections in May I know in my area that there’s an Independent in at the moment. Being in the North East it was at one time a Labour seat in the locals. That was until the local councillors went against residents on a large issue of planning permission for Green Belt. People power came out in force and voted something like 4 Labour councillors out overnight. So from that experience and given the last 13 years, Labour certainly won’t be getting my first vote!

What’s the answer? – a benign dictatorship? 😮

I once, rather rashly, suggested that I, as a benign dictator, would make a better job of running the country that any of the last few governments; I’d help those that deserved it and punish those that deserved it too…

…unfortunately a good friend of mine was quick to point out “that’s just what Hitler thought he was doing”!

Good point! 😮

That we are increasingly ill educated. Is it just us or is it a symptom of 21st century democratic politics everywhere?

When we find ourselves in a situation where almost as many people vote to keep people on (or chuck them off) a TV programme as take part in a General Election, where many voters don’t actually understand our electoral system (eg, I voted/didn’t vote for Gordon Brown) and where PR gloss and spin have taken the place of integrity and responsibility, then it’s clear that we’re in a right bloody mess.

If you believe, as I do, that in a democracy we get the quality of government we deserve then what does it say about us?

Unfortunately that’s true. What’s the answer?- a benign dictatorship?:eek:

Strange to relate, that kind of collective amnesia always afflicts a party when it moves from Government to Opposition in the UK, and apparently it gets more acute the longer the party spent in power.

It happened with the Tories in 1997, and it’s happening with Labour now.

They really are all as bad as each other.

GA,
I’m not saying one party is any better than another for misleading or twisting the facts – just that Labour seems to constantly forget that the mire we are in is partly due to their mismanagement of the country, which they were in charge of only 6 months ago. Just because they have rid themselves of GB doesn’t mean the electorate will think the numptees stepping into the new shadow cabinet are innocent – they were all in the cabinet or sitting on the benches opposite the Conservatives for 13 years….

Can tourists aviod paying VAT on items they take home?

Tourists from Non EU states can claim back VAT, the majority of stores will have the relevant forms (ask first before making purchase), there is usually a VAT claim box at the point of departure where you deposit the form, you can also have the money credited to your credit card or BACS to your bank account. Living in the Channel Islands, I quite often claim back my VAT. On my 1DS Mk3 I saved over £1,000 with the price difference between here and the UK and also claiming back the VAT.

And all so neatly colour-coded too…..red, blue, yellow, green…..so voters don’t have to think too hard (or at all)! 😉

I wonder what colour you get if you mix them all together…..white? :rolleyes:

Well it would probably end with ‘ite’ LOL

You could make that suggestion to all of our mainstream parties. It is sheer folly to pretend otherwise.

‘Labour?’, ‘Conservative?’, ‘LibDem?’…. just labels for self-interested gangs, mate.

Absolutely spot on GA…they all get tied up in their dogmas and/or sometimes think they are cleverer than they are…they ignore the wishes of the electorate.The country (sort of) survives in spite of all the legislation by our wonderful politicians…aided and abetted by those people who cannot get a real job…ie the MEP’s and the whole spectrum of EU gravy trains.
(just think ‘Neil + Glenys’ and how much that pair milked from the system :rolleyes:

‘Labour?’, ‘Conservative?’, ‘LibDem?’…. just labels for self-interested gangs, mate.

And all so neatly colour-coded too…..red, blue, yellow, green…..so voters don’t have to think too hard (or at all)! 😉

I wonder what colour you get if you mix them all together…..white? :rolleyes:

They may as well rename themselves the Hypocrite Party…

You could make that suggestion to all of our mainstream parties. It is sheer folly to pretend otherwise.

‘Labour?’, ‘Conservative?’, ‘LibDem?’…. just labels for self-interested gangs, mate.

And as I pointed out in a much earlier post the government is running scared of dealing with inflation, terrified that the interest rate increases will stunt any growth. Brown’s unspoken policy of keeping sterling weak has been continued. Inflation is the real killer and always has been. Anyone or any institution which has money on deposit will see its value decline this year.

Of course people moan about price rises; their wages aren’t rising to keep up; whether they smoke, drink or not. It’s all very well saying they have to budget or “cut their cloth” or whatever but that is becoming increasingly difficult when people are losing their jobs and those in work are finding that wage freezes are the norm.
Yes, some may have to go without a new TV but they’ll find it difficult to go anywhere without fuel and increased fuel prices mean increases in ALL prices which becomes inflationary etc. etc… and so on.

George Osborne has said that the 20% rate is permanent as far as he is concerned. I gues he’ll need the revenue to pay for tax cuts just before the next election.

Never a truer word was spoke…….

Read into my previous post whatever you like. The point I was trying to make, eloquently or not, was that there will be people who accept the increase in VAT for what it is and will budget their expenses accordingly.
There will be people who will moan about the cost of everything going up and how it will seriously affect their cost of living, but will still smoke 40 or more fags a day.

If the 20% rate is here to stay forever who knows. But Labour cannot accuse the present government of making things worse for the less well off. They may as well rename themselves the Hypocrite Party…

Regards from Las Vegas…

I believe that the penny short of the pound, was introduced when tills became common place, so that the person on the till had to open the till to give the customer a penny change instead of slipping the money into their pocket, without registering the sale.

You’ll have to back that up please. Every marketing guru or book plays the psycological selling card, that 1.99 is 1 not 2. It still works, items have in the past been priced at 1.99 and 2.01 in another branch. The 1.99 sold like hot cakes, 2.01 did not. “Sell to the weakest link” is a common term used, it proves out every time.

As for price banding in the pre decimal days, I seem to remember the 1s/9d 2s9d more than the 11s. Maybe it was around before decimalisation. I’ll get the Kotler books out!
I can’t properly remember shopping in the 60’s, I was sent on errands by my mum, who gave me a list and the correct money. Prices didn’t seem to change for months on end. My own half crown pocket money went on Sweets and/or a 2 bob Airfix model, those 1/72nd scale ones, in a bag with a card top!

PeeDee – I am sure I remember 1/11, 3/11, 17/11 and 18/11 and so on, long ago. I think it has always been with us hasn’t it?

I believe that the penny short of the pound, was introduced when tills became common place, so that the person on the till had to open the till to give the customer a penny change instead of slipping the money into their pocket, without registering the sale.

No poo sherlock 😉

I do apologize, recognizing sarcasm is very difficult sometimes on an internet forum, especially when you use the wrong smilie.;)

BTW a little gentle googling says that VAT in this country was introduced on 1st April 1973