O/T Reduction in VAT...what a joke!

[Christies Child]

We are buying the mother in law a lap top for Christmas so that she can send e-mails (well it saves going to see her ) and it will be interesting to see if the reduction in VAT (all £2.50 per £100 spend of it ) will be passed on to those like ourselves who buy over the web.

The basic Acer that we intend to buy is £300, so by my reckoning we should save the princely sum of £7.50.....oh happy days....NOT!

Anybody else out there think this reduction in VAT is a complete joke and will have no effect what so ever? Especially when you consider that fuel is to have even more tax on it, resulting in transport companies increasing their charges which will be passed onto the makers who in turn will pass it onto the likes of you and me.

If the Governement wanted to do something to help they should have abolished stamp duty and all other taxes on house building which would have given a much needed incentive to the depressed housing market and contributed to the lack of affordable housing. It would also have saved many builders from loosing their jobs and all the ramifications that that has.

CC's Rant for the Day completed!

[PUNKISDEAD]

The reduction in vat makes any small business on the flat rate scheme worse off!!!
another stealth tax

[wonder shrimp]

i don't think that the VAT reduction was every really meant to be passed on to consumers, rather was to help the retail sector, which is in severe do do and employs a large chunk of the working population.

quite how anyone can spin a tax cut as a stealth tax is beyond me to be fair

[PUNKISDEAD]

WONDER SHRIMP

No offence meant here but do you know what the flat rate scheme is, and how it affects small business??

If you do not i will spell it out for you and anyone else on the board, any small business (ie turnover of less than 150 k) on the vat flat rate scheme is 2.5% worse off as a result of the reduction as they do not claim any vat back on purchases, but the flat rate that applies to their business , has not been reduced.

[Ego Tripping]

The basic Acer that we intend to buy is £300, so by my reckoning we should save the princely sum of £7.50

It isn't even that much as it's not 17.5% of the retail price, as the retail price is made up of ex VAT price (i.e. 100%) plus VAT (17.5% or 15% now!). Therefore saving is only approx £2.13 in every £100.

Even worse news is the rise in alcohol duty that seems to have slipped under the radaar that covers the reduction in duty!

[wonder shrimp]

after posting i had a root around t'internet, this is from the telegraph

"Some 184,000 small businesses take advantage of the flat rate VAT scheme and many were up in arms yesterday after realising they would benefit less from the scheme than they had in the past."

a reduction in a tax break is not a rise in taxes, stealthy or otherwise!

[marky]

CC, VAT is not permitted to be less than 15% under European law, otherwise I suspect it might have been reduced further.

[marky No.1]

Many of the other EU countries have a much higher V.A.T. rate:
Denmark and Sweden are on 25%
Poland and Finland 22%
Ireland 21.5%

[P/T Indie]

I can't see it been passed on can you imagine all the shop owners changing their prices by 5p or 10p etc. It will hardly get us all spending again and then in 2010 it will prob go up to 18% and eall our NI payments will go up in 2011 so we will be even worse off.

So in 2011 I will be suffering because other people got themselves in a fnancial mess and I will have to pay for it.

It's caused a right headache where I work where VAT is complicated enough now we have to make all the changes with immediate effect and then change it all back in another 12 - 18 months.

[Phoenix]

VAT is not permitted to be less than 15% under European law
VAT on energy is 5%

The reduction in vat makes any small business on the flat rate scheme worse off!!!
Is that the OPTIONAL flat rate scheme? Opt out!

i don't think that the VAT reduction was every really meant to be passed on to consumers, rather was to help the retail sector, which is in severe do do and employs a large chunk of the working population.
By Monday the tills and published prices have to be modified either to pass on the reduction in VAT or to show that the (un-changed) price has been calculated to include 15% VAT.

I can't believe people are complaining about it. So maybe it saves £7 on a laptop, in today's climate you're lucky you can even think about buying one.

Think about everything you buy throughout the year which will be cheaper, then come back and moan. FFS!

[Nerso (CTFC)]

If you are buying online this xmas ; then look for "voucher codes" first. e.g. "play.com voucher codes" in your search engine.

[Phoenix]

If you are buying online this xmas ; then look for "voucher codes" first. e.g. "play.com voucher codes" in your search engine

Or take a look around www.hotukdeals.co.uk

[cultured]

If you firm factors invoices for any reason, this drop in VAT will actually lower the working capital and impinge on cash flow. Which I'm sure is a great idea in the "Credit Crunch".

[Heysham_Shrimp]

CC, VAT is not permitted to be less than 15% under European law, otherwise I suspect it might have been reduced further.

Bearing in mind the 2.5% temporary reduction has involved borrowing around £12 billion I doubt it would have been reduced further.

[marky No.1]

Most importantly we need all these stealth tax rises so we can fund stuff like this

http://www.lep.co.uk/weirdnews/Drunken- ... 4741777.jp

Lost a fiver on the season ticket as well

http://www.lep.co.uk/pnenews/PNE-cut-ti ... 4742849.jp

At least it will be cheaper next season

Oh and here is Carlisle's answer to it:
http://www.carlisleunited.co.uk/page/Ne ... 84,00.html

[parceldave]

If you are buying online this xmas ; then look for "voucher codes" first. e.g. "play.com voucher codes" in your search engine

Or take a look around http://www.hotukdeals.co.uk

As long as everybody keeps buying on-line i dont mind it will keep me in buisness. But its certainly a lot quieter than last year .

[Phoenix]

As long as everybody keeps buying on-line i dont mind it will keep me in buisness. But its certainly a lot quieter than last year

If it's quiet, perhaps you've got time to go find my 500GB hard drive that's been in the hands of royal mail for the last 2 weeks

[parceldave]

As long as everybody keeps buying on-line i dont mind it will keep me in buisness. But its certainly a lot quieter than last year

If it's quiet, perhaps you've got time to go find my 500GB hard drive that's been in the hands of royal mail for the last 2 weeks

Royal Mail nothing to do with Parcelforce unless i need the toilet . Have you been to the sorting office to find out where it is and is there a tracking number so they can trace it.

[Phoenix]

Won't investigate until they've lost it for 2 weeks by which time there isn't a f'ing chance of it turning up in one piece

[parceldave]

Won't investigate until they've lost it for 2 weeks by which time there isn't a f'ing chance of it turning up in one piece

Thats bollox service, if anything comes through Parcelforce it has tracking number and can be located in an instant. I am sometimes greeted at the door with customer saying they were expecting me as they were tracking their parcel on - line . I thought Royal Mail were using similar devices to us now . Sorry about your loss , hope they find it or compensate you soon.