Tuesday, November 02, 2010

The world is not going to end...

Apologies for not posting yesterday, was a little busy, and may will be today, however, just wanted to pass a little comment on VAT. I heard someone this morning bemoaning the rise in VAT to 20% saying given that the reduction in VAT under Labour in the recession "worked" and got people spending it stands to reason that the rise in VAT to 20% in January will have the opposite effect.

To this I call bollocks.

Look, something that cost £1.175 that suddenly cost £1.15 didn't make people rush to buy it. Likewise a rise to £1.20 from £1.175 won't stop people buying it. Yes, the more expensive the item the more the VAT, but let's be serious for a second, we're talking in most case a few pence more on the cost.

Don't get me wrong, I don't support a VAT rise, in fact I think VAT is annoying in general, I'd prefer it didn't exist at all, but lets drop the hyperbole. No one goes is going to go into a shop on January 1st and say "oh no, I can't buy that because it's £2.50 more than it was yesterday.

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