Tory's to hike up VAT to 19.5%

[magentadreamer]

Sorry it's a DM story but another reason not to trust the party that gave us record unemployment, sky high mortgage rates in the 80's the poll tax and sold off the family silver amongst other things.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/election/article-1269677/Tories-secret-plot-raise-VAT-19- 5-emergency-June-Budget.html

I, personally, thank you for repeating that, Policywonk.

Typical tories.

VAT is the most heinous tax as it disproportionately affects those on the lowest income.

But PW, these people are in receipt of cash from the government. It is not as if they have earned every penny themselves, and already paid tax on it.

these people? these people don't earn a penny themselves or pay tax?

you're talking about millions of people who, excuse me, work and earn money, just not very much. people who work in care homes, drive a bus, teach children, nurse in hospitals, clean in hospitals, etc.

do you truly believe that poor = benefits?

what about widow pensioners? they get to pay the higher VAT, too.

this is why i won't vote tory, because they seem under the impression that if you work, you can afford to pay as much as they do.

btw, did sam cam work to earn the big trust fund and inheritance? maybe she shouldn't get it, either.

maybe people should only get whatever it is they earn if that's what fairness is.

excuse me for missing out quotation marks.

'But PW, these people are in receipt of cash from the government. It is not as if they have earned every penny themselves, and already paid tax on it.'

We spent over £2000 this winter to heat this place.

It has ancient electric storage heaters.

It's rented and we can't afford to move.

We work and pay tax.

I'm sure it's all our fault, though.

Funny that, the pounds we pay in are worth same as every pound put in by others, but we're not.

All three parties on QT this week did not rule out raising VAT.

That from the horses mouth of Vince Cable and Ed Balls, but go ahead and scaremonger away, those bad, bad tories.

Well said expat

Agree that all three major parties are very much on the hook when it comes to VAT rises - none have ruled it out AFAIK. But Tories and Labour have both ruled out progressive income tax rises. Stupid.

I'd like to say I'm shocked that so many conservative voters don't have a clue of the working poor in this country, but I'm not.

It shows how out of touch so many in Tory party leadership are, many of whom are cushioned by money they did nothing to earn themselves.

What does it say about a person who thinks it's okay behaviour for a PM to have found it a great honour to join a club famous for taking pleasure in destroying peoples' property and then throwing money at them?

Haahaa. What an intelligent, creative and imaginative way to have fun! That shows such a compassionate, thoughtful and decent nature.

The top rate of income tax is already 50%

Who in their right mind would stay in this country just to hand over over half of their income for the privelege?

You cannot just take away peoples income at source and not expect them to vote with their feet.

'You cannot just take away peoples income at source and not expect them to vote with their feet.'

That goes for the working poor, too, who stand to lose more and more of their income.

I'm lucky in that, as a dual national, it's actually a possibility for us to vote with our feet, too.

Because we're really getting sick of not being to heat our home past the point of keeping the pipes from bursting so we can prop up the housing market and ensre Da Man keeps more of Daddy's money.

Doesn't matter who wins - taxes are going up and public spending is going down. The problem is none of the parties have had the good manners to tell us how, exactly, they are going to pay off the record breaking national debt that we have accrued.

Have you seen the price of Caviar these days? ;-)

It's also 40% of anything over £37,401 which is much lower than the U.S. which is where lots of people will flock to.

If you alienate and penalise the people that contribute the most money to the economy you'll end up with less money in the pot.

'which is much lower than the U.S. which is where lots of people will flock to.'

Really? That's funny, it's pretty hard to get a visa there just now for anything long-term.

I'm from there.

It's far from an easy process even to get my own husband there.

They're not going to 'flock' there, because the US doesn't really want or need them at present, particularly as they have quite high unemployment themselves at present (it is declining overall, however).

The abolition of the 10% rate was dreadful, but labour have done nothing for the working poor to the point of denying their offspring higher education.

'but labour have done nothing for the working poor to the point of denying their offspring higher education. '

a minimum wage

tax credits

extending sure start to people who receive more than the childcare element of tax credits

EMA

they've done nothing for the working poor?

my arse.

'Many of the true high earners come to London to work (as opposed to being born here) so they won't be giving up their London life style, they just will choose not to come here in the first place and pay less tax elsewhere.'

Where are they going to go then? Most don't seek work on the Continent because they don't speak any language other than English and they have a snowball's chance in merry hell of getting into the US if they are not American or married to one excepting some very specialist skilled workers, and even then it won't likely be long-term.

So are they all just going to Oz in droves?

Takes ages to go to Canada, too, even for those married to Canadians or who can claim Canadian nationality but haven't do so yet.

God - do people not realise that those 'rich' people do not just stick their money in high interest accounts (as there are few around these days!) or put it under the mattress or in a safe - they actually use the momeny they earn to employ others be it cleaners, builders, plumbers etc or to buy a new car - ergo employing people who make cars - even those pesky caviar fisherman - they are employed too by the amount of money not only earnt but spent.

The marginal tax rate is 50% - income tax plus national insurance.

To rise it further would be killing the goose that lays the golden egg. There are plenty of cities in the world eager to help companies relocate from high tax countries. Since our economy is dominated by tertiary industry, much of which is highly mobile, a future government would be crazy to increase national insurance or the top rate of tax.

I'm sorry, but I just think it's nonsense to say that a family on a pre-tax income of £100k couldn't afford to pay any more tax. They could, they'd just have to give up a few things. Aren't the right-wingers constantly telling us that we've all got to be prepared for a bit of pain over the next few years? Or does that only apply to those who are already on the breadline?