Alex Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 Gerald, if the BIG picture was helping businesses out then a drop in corporation tax would have been better, or some other corporate subsidising scheme. And if it's the people that were supposed to be better off... then an additional raise in tax free income would have sufficed. Their chosen path was limited, which they knew, by EU laws and was in its sweeping nature very expensive to implement for such a small change. 2.5% does not make much of an impact even on £10,000...it's only £250 less... This was a poorly thought out, change to the taxation system which hasn't "helped" anyone in reality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imi Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 Bottom line is that the average joe is now worse off compared to when labour came into power, not just financially but also when it comes to services, utilities, education, health and most important the threat of being attacked. What they have done and some will say not done has paved a nice pathto worse times ahead. With oil prices sub 45 dollars how come were still paying 90p at the pumps? Why does the govt allow it's people to get f...ked Posted via Mobile Device Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 Lest we foret also that the berk in charge at the moment sold all our gold cheaply to boost his coffers (in the late 90's) in the short term and now we have none in reserve, which lets face it MIGHT HAVE HELPED!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branners Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 If somebody can explain how the VAT cut was supposed to help businesses I would like to hear it, Im genuinely interested to see if there was a reason and if that reason ever came true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazboy Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 If somebody can explain how the VAT cut was supposed to help businesses I would like to hear it, Im genuinely interested to see if there was a reason and if that reason ever came true. It was a PR stunt to get the brain dead to go shopping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedM Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 It was a PR stunt to get the brain dead to go shopping. That was doomed to failure then. Once Woolworths started closing branches where else could they go? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marbleapple Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 Also, it probably harmed the cash flow of more businesses than helped them out. Doing a VAT change isn't a simple matter of just adjusting a figure and that's that, do you not think it costs money for business to change all their IT systems, reprint all their price lists and change their advertising. People keep saying this but I don't know a company which has changed its prices or its price list. Even Marks and Spencers simply knock the 2.5% VAT off at the till. Its like an added bonus when you go to the till**. My local golf store (I went in to get my dad something for Christmas) took delight in informing me that all you had to do is times x by 2.something % and calculated the discount. If my local golf store can do it why can't anyone else? ** which makes it totally pointless when you think that the idea was to try make people spend money, not for them o hink they got a bonus after they bought their item (if they bought it). it was said that it would have been better to simply give each working person £500 to spend as they wish as that would have worked out the same overall cost. Not sure if thats true but it makes you think. JB I suspect that is just spin and not true. A 2.5% discount would mean that you would have to spend £20,000 (on items with VAT - so not food) to see a VAT saving of £500. That was doomed to failure then. Once Woolworths started closing branches where else could they go? Zavvi? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacko Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 It was nothing more than a PR stunt by the Government that has managed to ruin the economy. And people say the Tories were bad at it......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJ Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 People keep saying this but I don't know a company which has changed its prices or its price list. Even Marks and Spencers simply knock the 2.5% VAT off at the till. Its like an added bonus when you go to the till**. I know for a fact that the company I work for had to work on sorting out the VAT across it's IT systems, billing systems, websites and the like. Even if it is a case of just changing a value in a system table everything needs to be testing before releasing it into a live environment. Everything then needs to be checked to ensure that whoever wrote the systems didn't hard code anything. Regression testing etc etc... That certainly doesn't come free of charge! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 The point was to increase cash flow for businesses dealing in thousands of pounds, not pennies! Think of the bigger picture, not just your own private bubble. 3 - much of Europe has VAT rates of OVER 20%. The grass is NOT always greener! I fail to see how it will help business given that they claim the vat back anayway. All it will do is help the cashflow a little. Don't forget that those other countries you mention will also have different taxation for income, fuel, NI and all the other various stealth taxes we've got here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevie_b Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 Don't forget that those other countries you mention will also have different taxation for income, fuel, NI and all the other various stealth taxes we've got here. Also, different taxation regimes come with different benefits. For example, tax might be low in the US (I'm assuming this for argument's sake, don't know if it's true), but they don't have a free health care system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ark Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 That was doomed to failure then. Once Woolworths started closing branches where else could they go? Poundland? Obviously they would have to re-brand though - "Ninety-seven-and-a-half-pence-Land" has such a snappy ring to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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