UK: New tax bombshell: 20% VAT

argatoga said:
And when they raise it in the future it will only be a small amount added. And when they do it again only a small amount added. And so on ...
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It's 20 years since the last rise (of 2.5%) so I don't think we'll get worried yet.
By 2050 we might just have reached the level of a lot of European countries.
 
No the EU rules prevent a move up or down of more than 2.5% from our agreed rate of 17.5%. Why we could only go down to 15% recently. Of course everything is negotiable in reality but we have no EU clout; only the Franco German axis can ignore the rules.
 
I'll never bitch about our 12%
 
Norwegian VAT is 25%.

Here its 25% added to the price of ehm.. everything?
 
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Each transaction between companies attracts the VAT applicable, there are a few things zero rated, exempt (Subtle difference), and at special reduced rates like electricity and Gas. A proportion is sent to the EU to run the place, that is how we end up paying for everything, it is due to the nature of our economy. Businesses can calaim back the Vat paid and only pay on the additional part or the value added. The consumer then pays the full cost.

So say I buy in some components that cost me 100 plus 20% then I sell the made up item for 200 plus 20% the original company can claim the original 20% back but I have to pay 200 x .2 so the government get the cash, etc. Only the end user can not claim the tax back.

Better explanation :

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2966814.stm

And the revenue goes. ...

http://ec.europa.eu/budget/budget_detail/revenue_detail_en.htm
 
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epp_b said:
What, exactly, is Value Added Tax? Where do you pay it?
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To not ovecomplicate it, instead of filing for taxes every year and counting vouchers and send a report. You pay a specific percentage of a article's price whenever you buy it. For instance.

Let's imagine X article costs 1.00 Lempira,when you go checkout said article it adds VAT automatically, so your bill is 1.12. Some people will price their products so that when VAT is added it adds up to a even number (a Lps.8.93 parking fee becomes a Lps.10 parking fee).
 
^Here it's 22%, except for food it is 12%.

And it's counted on the prices, if the pricetag is 19 euros, you pay 19 euros (seller gets 15 and something)
 
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Over here sales tax is 8.6%. WA also doesn't have an income tax.

Of course there are about a million other taxes on cell phones, Internet connections, power, etc.
 
h-p said:
^Here it's 22%, except for food it is 12%.

And it's counted on the prices, if the pricetag is 19 euros, you pay 19 euros (seller gets 15 and something)
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Well that's a little more bearable. In California the posted price does not include tax.

Sells more plasma TVs though. People walk in with a budget of 2 grand and walk out over 150 bucks over budget. If the tax was added on the list price people would buy less expensive TVs and both government and retailer would get less cash.

Capitalism. Glorious.
 
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epp_b said:
Thanks, that's the type of answer I was looking for.

But... holy crap, 20% on everything you buy? What a blatant gravy train.
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Not everything. As explained before, items are either VAT rated at the full rate, rated at a reduced rate, rated at 0% or exempt altogether.

Also the VAT is rolled into the price. So none of MadCat360s "labelled price is X, checkout price is Y" rubbish.

17.5% (21% in Ireland) probably sounds a high tax to the US, but that is because we roll it all up into one. You guys have sales tax, local tax, keep your Governor in free blow jobs tax, pay for the local billionaire to have a football stadium built for him tax etc etc.
 
I remember hearing that for Californians it is up to %50 of their income when all added together.
 
argatoga said:
I remember hearing that for Californians it is up to %50 of their income when all added together.
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It depends on how you calculate it. Libertarian and right-wing politicians in every country i know of (including germany) claim their country has the highest tax and contribution ratio of all, usually around or above 50% of the income (if you make enough money to pay the highest income tax rate and have nothing to deduct/don't file a tax return, which is not a real-world case, especially as the cost of a tax lawyer is deductible). Other calculation methods, of course, give different results, putting germany (as an example) among the third of EU countries with the lowest tax and contribution ratio.
 
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argatoga said:
I remember hearing that for Californians it is up to %50 of their income when all added together.
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Hardly! Even if you make over a million a year you pay only 10% income (9.3% if you make between 50k and 1 million). How much after that depends on what you buy and how much you own, obviously. But it's not 50% for the vast majority. We have higher taxes than the rest of the country, yes, but we ain't Sweden.

My family is in the second-highest bracket (9.3%), and all told we paid about 30% taxes last year I think. I'll have to check.
 
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Culture & sport = 6% moms aka VAT
Food & rooms = 12%
Everything else = 25%

Sales to companies exclude VAT and they bundle it into one large payment each year, after they made deductions for shit they claim they need.
 
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That would be quite unique in europe. Even for sales between companies there is VAT included, but they can deduct the amount of VAT spent on their purchases from what they have to pay for their sales, so they pay only tax on the value they added.
 
I'm thinking more of people who buy a stuff like a small excavator for their garden and write it up on their own business. Whatever that is called.
 
AiR said:
I'm thinking more of people who buy a stuff like a small excavator for their garden and write it up on their own business. Whatever that is called.
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Mmm....fraud?
 
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