to not get the fuss over the VAT rise

[teceral]

Its only going up by 2.5%, something that costs £10 now costs £10.21, its not a major deal. It also not on food etc. AIBU to think its much ado about nothing

bringmesome Sales are still on as well.

99p shops, Poundland etc ..... the prices will stay the same but the quantity of goods will reduce. There are many manufacturers who already make designated Poundland items which weigh slightly less than the "same" item you find in Tescos, precisely so it can be sold at a £1. Admittedly Poundland etc does have some great genuine bargains but it's hardly the answer for the UK poor, and it isn't always quite what it appears to be at first glance !

Us poor can do without washing machines, when there are perfectly good streams out there to wash our clothes in

Is the pound shop going to become the £1.02 shop now though? Hmm.

Oh sorry. Cross-posts.

It will probably only have a significant impact on those whose monthly/weekly budgets come down to a few pounds ie poor people, so yes much ado about nothing.

I really hope you are being sarcastic LB?

Ah, you could be right TheBrand, that makes a lot of sense :o

usual it makes it a good deal easier to look down on The Great Unwashed if they are actually unwashed.

LB, I think quite the opposite. You should be spending thousands a week to really feel the difference...

I was being sarcastic , cant work out how to do sarcastic type smiley thingy

Another quite depressing thread

I'm alright jack

I think 20 % vat on top of what we already pay in tax is unbelievable, unreasonable and very ill thought out.
I thought the goverment wanted us to increase spending ?

My family`s standard of living will drop , because of this. We already cut out holidays because we can no longer afford them .

Other things will have to go now , like the kids clubs becuase we just wont have money to pay for them. And the money thats used for insurance policies and "old age fund" will have to be cut back too.

And we are not concidered to be poor, there are many more people where we live that will struggle to even feed themselves now.

ILikeMilk, i already buy the shop own brand ones anyway. oh for the luxury of actually buying Tampax

but my post was really not about the specifics of why our household was struggling - more a case that despite both of us working, between cutting back on all non-essentials, there is no longer anything to cut back on. we already view having the heating on as a luxury, food budget is tightly controlled, i only have a £10 mobile as an emergency phone for if i ever need it - families like ours will feel this 2.5% effect, not because we are poor and feckless with cash, but because we are poor and already struggling with the financial ties we have. our one comfort is that we have a mortgage, rather than renting - it's damp, it's in a crime ridden area, but it's ours until we can afford something else in a decade or two.

so my point wasn't really about specific goods - more a general point about how hard working families are already so close to the grindstone there just isn't the flexibility to keep absorbing these increases in inflation without having some very hard knocks on people's ways of lives

oh for my student days - i thought i was poor then!

our finances have improved in the last 4 or 5 months due to a couple of factors (being able to lower childcare for one, plus a small wage increase, plus someone stealing my car and writing it off, no longer have petrol to pay, (i take 2 buses to work and 2 back now - costs more in time but is cheaper), etc)... but i would never be so up myself that i'd write what some posters on here seem to think: "I'm alright, jack, it's only 2.5%, everything is fine, stop fretting" etc.

shows a total lack of understanding about what a good chunk of of the country is experiencing.

I haven't read the whole thread but VAT going up does not just affect the goods you buy. It is the services too so any business you use the services of who are VAT registered will go up. The soft play centre I do the books for is VAT registered so the price will go up there.

I don't think it will make much difference to you and me but it will close down a lot of small businesses who are VAT registered.

It would have been more sensible to come down hard on tax evasion and avoidance. Didn't someone say that was what they were going to do? Of course, that's not going to happen when our Chancellor is one of those lucky fellows taking advantage of the tax loop holes, and who knows how many Tory MPs are tax registered in one of (our!) tax havens.

But hey, it's only 2.5% and the plebs can pay it. (The VAT hike will generate only a tiny weeny fraction of our deficit so pretty pointless anyway. Closing the tax loop holes etc would wipe the deficit almost completely.)

Ilikemilk , could be right too, you will certainly notice the increase on items such as cars etc

Would still consider that the poorest are worst placed to absorb this VAT increase, however insignificant some posters feel this is

p.s. speaking to family and friends in the last couple of months, they're all in the same position.

this was the first christmas in my entire life where both sides of the family didn't buy presents beyond the pound shop token gifts for children. literally the first year i've seen such worry on people's faces, even aunts and uncles for who they've historically gone all out on christmas as their one indulgence. and now this 2.5% increase.

things are just going to get worse for the lowest in our society. i just don't see how society can continue to function when the "great unwashed" are being pressed from so many angles. and then i read another article saying "save for your pension" - from what, dear liza, from what!

Agree its going to hit those already at the margin of coping.

There are other fairer taxes - either an increase on income tax, or alternatively things like increasing the top limit for National Insurance (once you earn over a certain amount you only pay 1% on anything above that), dropping the point at which you move onto higher rate tax, etc.

I'm having to watch my wonderful dad struggling, he was just starting to plan towards retirement, and now he's fucked.

He's a driving instructor, the costs of his job have shot up, and he can't up his prices because people can't afford it. So now he can barely cover the cost of running his car, let alone anything else.

Of course the fucking VAT increase is going to affect those who aren't so well off! And you are seriously stupid if you cannot see that.

I've just joined mumsnet today especially so I can post on this thread.

So the VAT rise is no big deal.....well it is for our family as my husband has just phoned to say his boss is closing down his business on Friday due to the price of diesal.

The companys they do the the haulage work for cant/wont increase their payments and my husbands boss cant afford the diesal prices any more.

And I dont think for one minute that we will be the only family to be affected in this way!

So yes you are being very unreasonable to think it's no big deal!

PS really liking the boards here and hope to stay around a while!

LB - whack one of these and then one of these at the end - it's good enough to indicate sarcasm!! (I completely missed your sarcasm and though wow - how self absorbed!! because there are actually people around who think like that!!).

Usual of course you can, my Gran hand washed for her, Grandpa and 15 kids!!!

(Actually, I think what the poster was actually getting at was that people less well off would be buying washing machines privately/eBay etc - but still....)

So sorry to hear that MrsPresley :(

MrsPresley - I am so sorry to hear that :( I think it's going to have that affect on a lot of small businesses who were only just hanging in there :( How transferable are your DH skills? I hope he can find something quickly - but I know that even if you are highly skilled it's not easy :(

I hope you stick around!! I don't know how long you have been reading and not posting for, but as with anything - it's lovely on the whole, but a 'nest of vipers' at other times and there are LOADS of other boards if AIBU gets a bit heated!

Apologies if this has been mentioned further up on this thread, but:
in addition to it being the most unfair tax possible (hits the poorest hardest) and generally being a pain, this rise is coming at a terrible time. The cost of public transport is increasing by around 10% (6.8% on average for services in London, up to 12% on some train lines), inflation is now at 3.3% (above all expected levels) but generally, wages and earnings (including benefits etc.) are not rising at the same level, so many many people are worse off than they were before, the same time last year.

My concern is that this vat rise will also push inflation up further.

The Chancellor is a moron

the difference in the VAT is poorly timed, as its the cost rise in raw materials which will be the real reason behind the cost increases we see
Clothing will shoot up in price shortly - cotton is less available and 40% more expensive before its made into garments, then factoor in fuel and before it gets to uk for vat its more expensive
the vat increase is irksome, but no where near as bad as an income tax rise would be for everyone, regardless of income. we cant expect the highest earners to fund everything or before long you'll see them skip the country / hire a decent accountant to find a way around it
btw i'm not a hgher tax payer,so dont get the wrong idea!