Tax Changes

[Skodaku]

The economy is in freefall, apparently, and Mr Badger is faffing around at the edges. What do you think should be the target products/services for Duty/Tax increases and decreases ? I'll start with :

Reduce fuel duty by 2p/ltr (impacts everything).
Remove VAT from tyres. (They're a safety item FGS !).
Reduce duty of draught beers by 5p/pint (helps the ailing Pub industry)
Raise duty on wine & spirits by £1.50/ltr
Raise duty on bottled/canned beers by £1/ltr, but only 50p/ltr for small breweries with outputs of ? per year. (And a £2/ltr rise for all those beers imported into EU.
Raise duty on tobacco & cigarettes by equiv of £1 per 20.
50p/ltr duty on all carbonated soft drinks. (There are lots of good alternatives).
20% VAT on cars over £80k new price. (Buyers at that level can afford it).
25% VAT on all pre-recorded CD's and DVD's.
Remove tax from Insurance policies.

That should get the ball rolling. Any other suggestions ?

[Skodaku]

tegwin said:

Skodaku said:

The economy is in freefall, apparently, and Mr Badger is faffing around at the edges. What do you think should be the target products/services for Duty/Tax increases and decreases ? I'll start with :

Reduce fuel duty by 2p/ltr (impacts everything).
Remove VAT from tyres. (They're a safety item FGS !).
Reduce duty of draught beers by 5p/pint (helps the ailing Pub industry)
Raise duty on wine & spirits by £1.50/ltr
Raise duty on bottled/canned beers by £1/ltr, but only 50p/ltr for small breweries with outputs of ? per year. (And a £2/ltr rise for all those beers imported into EU.
Raise duty on tobacco & cigarettes by equiv of £1 per 20.
50p/ltr duty on all carbonated soft drinks. (There are lots of good alternatives).
20% VAT on cars over £80k new price. (Buyers at that level can afford it).
25% VAT on all pre-recorded CD's and DVD's.
Remove tax from Insurance policies.

That should get the ball rolling. Any other suggestions ?

Agreed with you right up until the point you started talking about taxing high earners.... everyone should be treated the same.. if you work hard to get to the top the govermnent has no right to help themselves!

Taxing DVDs and CDs will increase piracy!

Didn't suggest taxing high-earners directly but I guess the extra VAT on £80k+ cars could be seen that way. Surely those cars are a matter of choice and not something that has to be purchased very often, if at all. Still maintain that if you can afford to pay £80k+ for a depreciating asset then the extra VAT shouldn't exactly be an onerous burden. End result on out-the-gate prices might be neutral to minimal as manufacturers/dealers might just adjust prices downward to retain demand, (but that's "might" with a capital M !).........I'm pretty sure they have enough margin to manage that. No problem with people keeping as much of their hard-earned salary as possible, (hence no direct taxation proposal), just trying to relieve those that can, presumably, afford it of a little extra when purchasing non-essential luxry goods.

The comment re CD/DVD piracy is valid and takes me into "Law of Unintended Consequences" territory so I'll drop that one.

Thanks for your comments.

[Skodaku]

GT03ROB said:

I'd increase the rate of income tax to 80% for all volvo drivers as they drive slowly & generally clog up the roads....

I've certainly met/followed some Volvo drivers I'd like to tax out of existence; likewise some BMW/Merc/Audi etc etc drivers but this one actually like to make "progress"...............where legal and safe to do so, of course.

Your vehicle history is pretty impressive; 1300 Viva to GT3 is no mean feat. Well done that man. What's the tax regime like in your part of the world, compared to Brown's Britain ?

[Skodaku]

plasticpig said:

Already said this in another thread:

1. Legalise all drugs and tax them accordingly. This would genrate revenue additional revenue and also save money: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/apr/07/drug...

2. Legalise brothels and tax them accordingly.

3. Close tax loopholes that allow individuals and companies to doge UK taxation: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article59... and http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/mar/17/bar...

But in addition

4. Re-intr9duce the dog licence at £200 per year

5. Rate cakes at 15% rather than the current 0%

6. Rate caravans at 15% rather than the current 0%

7. Rate fiction books at 15% rather than the current 0%

Yes to all of those. Can we expand "Cakes" to read "Confectionery" ? Hadn't realised that caravans are zero-VAT rated. That's terrible. Can we add VED for caravans also, please ? They do use the roads, IIRC, so only fair they should contribute. Sliding scale based on length or MGW or whatever.

[Skodaku]

SGirl said:

GT03ROB said:

I'd increase the rate of income tax to 80% for all volvo drivers as they drive slowly & generally clog up the roads....

I can tell you categorically that we don't all drive slowly.

Can we keep this quiet, please, SGirl ? If the BiB realise that not all Volvo drivers are BOF's then we'll cease to be effectively invisible.