VAT increase from 17.5% to 20%

[Dean]

I was just watching the news and there was a report on the VAT increase so I thought I'd post this here.

Apparently the consumer is going to spend something like £300 less this year because of the increase. In my opinion, I don't think it's right that they increase VAT because it's only going to impact us.

I also found these images which are quite worrying. I know the VAT increase probably won't impact smaller items but think about buying that new iMac you've always wanted, it's going to be more expensive.

Blah blah blah, the country is in debt and we need to sort it out, but I don't believe in cutting so fast.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13410865/Screen%20shot%202011-01-03%20at%2013.51.26.png

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13410865/Screen%20shot%202011-01-03%20at%2013.51.37.png

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13410865/Screen%20shot%202011-01-03%20at%2013.51.46.png

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13410865/Screen%20shot%202011-01-03%20at%2013.42.58.png

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13410865/Screen%20shot%202011-01-03%20at%2013.43.20.png

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13410865/Screen%20shot%202011-01-03%20at%2013.43.33.png

[-:Undertaker:-]

Blah blah blah, the country is in debt and we need to sort it out, but I don't believe in cutting so fast.

There are no cuts in reality, only department budgets are being moved about and are not being cut back in real terms (so as government expenditure is increasing to the period of 2014/15, department budgets are also increasing along with that). On cutting so fast, we have a £7.9tn debt and it does need cutting back because we are paying hundreds of billions in interest on this debt and the longer it is left the more chance there is of it spiralling out of control and thus you then go bankrupt.

I would advise a look at this; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/8083036/Spending-review-The-cuts-that-mean-public-spending-soars.html

What does make me laugh about this VAT rise, is that not only is it stupid anyway (in regard to the fact we need tax reductions and massive public sector cuts to get the economy kickstarted - but Labour's leader Ed Miliband is saying 'these rises will hurt the economy' - this comes from the man who oversaw the implementation of the climate change act which spends £18bn+ a year on something that is not happening, and if it were it is far more sensible to adapt to it rather than attempt to stop it when doing so would mean an entire shutdown of the global economy.

Again we are seeing tweedle-dumb and tweedle-dumber argue over essentially nothing - the Lib/Lab/Con win, country loses.

[Moh]

Imo, the government is cutting the wrong things. They need to cut on all these public services that they provide when the private sector can do a much better job than they could, just like other countries. The only income to government gets is practically from the private sector and raising tax is only going to hinder the private sector.

If people are going to spend less money, then the government will end up getting less money. Less people spending will cause businesses to either cut jobs or go into administration.

So with less people working, their income ends up being benefits, so the money they put back into the economy will be from the government which means the government is losing money in the cycle.

As long as the public spending is higher than the private spending, there's no hope.

[Ajthedragon]

We either cut fast or end up like Greece. I agree with the cuts and frankly VAT makes very little difference to the way my family live. Frankly given we spend our extra money on luxuries and luxuries are generally getting cheaper, it kind of measures out.

Plus I'm sure this would have happened under any party, Alastair Darling openly admitted it's what he would have done.

Media exaggerating as usual.

[Mathew]

Well you just can't win can you? Cuts need to be made "but not so fast"? :P

At the end of the day, Conservatives were voted in power - the clue is in the name.. to conserve. It really is quite depressing how they won the election (or near enough in my eyes), yet now everybody suddenly hates them... because they're doing what they set out to do in their manifesto? :rolleyes: Yeah, let's bring Labour back in so that they can make a mess for the Tories to clear up, yet again.

As hopeful as I may sound too, the 13p increase on cigerettes may encourage people to quit smoking. Oh, what am I saying.. people will complain about a 13p increase on cigerettes but they won't make the effort to get help and quit smoking. Sadly, the people complaining about a 13p increase won't realise they could save hundreds per year if they just gave it up completely. Same goes for alchohol in my opinion.

I doubt this will affect us much. Well obviously it will - but what can you do? Everyone is in the same boat, everyone will notice a small increase, but the country is in debt and the current government is trying to make cuts - which can't be said for the previous government, at least!

[-:Undertaker:-]

Before I go into how the parties are the exact same, with the Tory Party being a pale-blue twin of Labour - i'll revert back to the cuts point which shows that actually there are no 'cuts' and many predict the debt is going to continue to grow. I have to say that even if these were cuts to make a difference, how can they be justified when Foreign aid is being increased by 37%, the EU budget is also increasing and not being cut and the public sector is not being slashed back?


Well you just can't win can you? Cuts need to be made "but not so fast"? :P

At the end of the day, Conservatives were voted in power - the clue is in the name.. to conserve. It really is quite depressing how they won the election (or near enough in my eyes), yet now everybody suddenly hates them... because they're doing what they set out to do in their manifesto? :rolleyes: Yeah, let's bring Labour back in so that they can make a mess for the Tories to clear up, yet again.

But what have the Conservatives conserved since 1945? nothing. They have failed to conserve anything, from grammar schools to the Europe issue to crime - they have failed on every front and now openly embrace Labour's Fabian socialism which has been creeping in since the end of the second world war (with the exception of the Thatcher Ministry).

The manifestos of the two parties were the same near enough anyway, and those parts which they promised difference in.. well they promised - just as Labour promised in 2005 for a referendum on the EU Consitution but failed to deliever and then David Cameron went back on his promise for a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty - not to mention also dropping his manifesto pledge to take back more powers from Brussels.

This is the same with every single issue, with the coalition they have a nice little excuse 'oh we have to because the coalition' but given these three parties past records in general, how and why would anybody believe a word any of them say? Do you remember before the election they were arguing about £6bn regarding NI when we have a debt of £7.9trillion?

Climate change - they agree.
Crime and justice - they agree.
Education - they agree.
European Union - they agree.
Big government and large state - they agree.
Taxation and regulation - they agree.
Foreign affairs/policy - they agree.

The small differences that they play out for electoral advantage are usually dropped anyway, so again I beg people not to believe a word they say. Fine if you think this country is well run then thats another debate, but I cannot stand it on this forum and in general when we have Conservatives V Labourites (or Liberal Democrats) hosing one another with slime despite the fact they actually all agree on every major issue.

Instead of this speculated merge between the Liberal Democrats and the Tories, why not just merge all three and create the Lib/Lab/Con Party and get it over and done with once and for all and end this silly pretence that they are somehow different from one another?