Did it go that high? Remember 14% in about 92 which made a fuck load of people homeless, but was wonderful for those that were not troubled by the rise and wanted an easy investment(house’s “under offer” for 30k in South London).
It’ll be better this time though, should bankrupt a fair few “buy to let” cunts(the one that rhymes would be a dream come true, OR for that matter any of the ones that voted against making it compulsory for landlords to make their properties FIT FOR HUMAN HABITATION).
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But that’s the point - the Bank if England are addressing inflationary pressure which has more to do with oil price than Brexit and has decided they can afford to put the rate up a notch
Howling that this interest rise is all about Brexit is like saying Saints poor form is Brexit related cos it coincided with an out vote
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over 18% in the 80’s.
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Ah, but his point is that oil prices (and prices for anything else we import) went up following the Brexit vote because the value of sterling plummeted. This means people are spending more to buy the same stuff and is creating inflation. The solution for the BoE is to increase interest rates in order to suppress spending and, therefore, reduce inflation.
Basically, make everyone a bit poorer in order to curb inflation.
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Don’t remember that. How strange, although if it was right at the end of the 80’s, I had just started work with a group that could only be described as alcoholics. All a bit of a blur😊
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Nail.on.head.
These were the BoE rates.
Mortgage rates were higher, overdraft rates were much higher, and accidental overdraft rates were crippling.
Worked for a company who was flattened by the MOD switching from 30 to 90 days payments back in the day.
The problem is that we haven’t left the EU. I’ve said it before, but we’re in the eye of the storm, on our way out, but not out. We’ve been paying over the odds for food for almost half a century, and thanks to continuing membership, we still are.
Business leaders that rely on staff that earn less than the living wage are terrified, and all too keen to say how big a disaster everything’s going to be. Possibly for their margins, like.
Once we’re out, we’ll be able to buy food from wherever we like, apart from possibly the continent-wide Waitrose that is the EU’s food market. That’s one benefit for the poor.
I think we can now entirely dismiss the ridiculous notion of wages going down after Brexit. It’s predicated on no-one fancying serving a market of 70m people, and it’s nonsense. Wages will go up. Benefit for the poor #2.
On the other side of the supply and demand equation, demand for housing should go down, meaning supply will be more plentiful. I know people we’ve got some people on this thread that don’t believe in the concept of supply and demand, at least not in respect to Brexit, but my guess is that housing costs will go down. Benefit for the poor #3.
VAT is one of the most regressive taxes out there. When I’m visiting the US, were sales tax hovers around 8%, give or take depending on which state you’re visiting, people are amazed that our “sales tax” is 20%. You cannot blame the EU for that, but you can criticise it for mandating that all member states have VAT set to 15% on “luxury” goods, minimum.
It’d almost be defensible if the term “luxury” didn’t include fuel, but the EU mandates that every country charges at least 5% VAT on fuel bills. In a time when the French and Germans own a lot of our energy companies. Hmm.
Without that bollocks, a UK government would have the agency to stimulate the economy with a universal reduction in prices, or making some things, like energy, not “luxury”.
Fuck me, 'leccy, gas and water are “luxury” in the modern age, are they? What does the EU expect citizens to do to live a frugal life? Build fires and wash in streams?
Some agency on VAT is benefit for the poor #4.
Our high VAT is only because of ‘Thatcher’s biggest con’… convincing voters that its better to pay less income tax, and then you get to ‘choose’ what you pay tax on eg duties on Fas, booze, gambling and more tax on more expensive goods and services…
The only reason why ‘sales’ tax is lower in the US (and I have been all over the US through work - 40plus visits) is because they tend to pay low tax anyway as they have very little in public services relative to those countries such as the Nordics that have high taxes but high levels of service and high standards of living…
The ‘people’, in their infinite wisdom in this country want better public services, yet are not willing to pay more tax to pay for them… the Tory cunts even made ‘tax and spend’ a negative statement as opposed to simply being about choosing higher standards of service and infrastructure… it has fuck all to do with the EU, but many Governments see the benefit of higher VAT as it means they can give the illusion of lower ‘taxes’ to voters…
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PS the mandate for a minimum of 5% on fuel bills was born out of a desire to be a green tax - to encourage less energy wastage - For the most vulnerable this is often offset by various allowances
It doesn’t matter how it’s spun, @Map-Of-Tasmania.
It is a continent wide cost that no EU common or gadren voter ever got to vote for.
None of us got to vote on VAT going from 7.5% to 9% to 15% to 17.5 % to 20%… nor when it was applied to books and telephone bills … and we wont in future so not sure of your point? VAT is also lower in most EU countries with more exemptions than us… but generally higher income tax. POINT is that all countries need to bring in x revenue to pay for x services -how that is done varies, but some would argue that having 20% on a high end car is better than trying to recover that by adding to the basic rate of tax… It may well be an EU wide mandate that we have tax on fuel bills, but do you think that will disappear after Brexit? seriously? Or put it another way, do you think we will all being paying less tax in future, or just the middle and higher earners? Most middle and high earners can afford to fuck off and retire early, so they aint going to be hanging about to make up the shortfall when things get shitty - why would i want to for example when its folks like yourself who have in effect convinced the poor they will be better off… without ever explaining how, yet all indicators suggest they could be fucked for many years to come…
My points are that in 2018
- Fuel is not a luxury, yet it’s EU classified as one, at at least 5%.
- The EU mandates a minimum 15% cost to consumers on anything it considers truly luxury.
- There is a big, universal lever, that could be pulled without these restrictions.
Do you have any disputes with those points, sir?
You know as well as i do that it may be called VAT but its evolved into a sales tax and so to suggest that the nasty EU is saying Granny must go cold because of an extra 5% is at best just playing at pulling heart strings…
So do you believe that irrespective of who forms the Government that anyone will ‘pull that lever’ and suddenly remove VAT? seriously?
Its like all your pipe dreams, you base your entire value of Brexit on ‘hope’ and ‘dreams’ when no Government go UK will ever deliver your desires… its not naive Pap, its ridiculously naive.
No dispute, then?
Good. Very good.
No real response then? You are very selective of what you respond to, like those politicians you so admire, avoiding answering and responding only with questions to try and turn it all back to your agenda… Do I agree with VAT on fuel? no its not a luxury, do I agree with a mechanism to try and reduce energy usage, yes…
Please answer how we will resurrect the manufacturing industries and obtain a surplus in our balance of payments?
Please answer how filling the low paid jobs left by EU citizens returning home when there will still be a surplus of unskilled labour is going to address wage levels and kick start our economy?
Please answer whether you believe a UK Government will ever remove VAT?
Please answer how we will ALL be better off under Brexit? Because simply having sovereignty and ‘our country back’ does not cut it - Belief in the British people is not an answer. Hopes and dreams is not an answer. expecting the global economy to reverse to pre 1971 and expect our commonwealth to buy our shitty goods is not the answer…
Please just answer…
I think we probably need to reestablish where we both stand in the great scheme of things, AG. Neither of us are elected representatives. Neither of us are going to be expected to conjure solutions for the problems you demand I solve.
I just have to wait.
Please continue with your creative writing course. I’ve broad shoulders for a wee man. I love a bit of artistic licence. pap-lore, init.
It was not a rhetorical question… but hey, no more (or less) than I expected. At the very least you’re predictable. You will need those broad shoulders to carry the weight of your disappointment. (That creative enough for ya?)
We are saved!
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‘‘We’re doomed’’