[canucklad]

I’m afraid Gideon has the vision of a fruit bat wearing sunglasses- sorry posh sun glasses!

This continual reference to “we’re in it all together” works because our ruling classes know that we will do what we always do and …..with a shrug of our shoulders wait for the next annoyance to come along!

And do I agree about the fuel surcharge. The bumbling bluster about barrels at point of cost versus future speculation! Blah blah Iraq blahi.blah unstable Ahmajeedid he had blah to justify it Dubya bush blah really blisters my barnacles !

[CXDiamond]

Did anyone honestly think that Osborne would scrap this tax which is so easy to collect from soft targets? You want to travel, you pay it, no choice.

The only good thing you can say for the little weasel is that he’s better than Balls but that is no complment.

[HarryMonk]

It would be interesting to know how much APD the airlines collect from passengers who cancel or are no shows yet don’t, can’t or through disproportionate fees claim a refund.
I would prefer APD to be payable seperately online or at the airport prior to passport contol. One, this makes it very clear how much APD is, what it is, who is getting the money and it doesn’t get mixed in with all the other “Taxes” and two, if you don’t fly for whatever reason you don’t pay or if you have already your receipt is valid for another trip

[TimFitzgeraldTC]

CX Diamond

Ed Balls makes my skin crawl. If he becomes chancellor or god forbid prime minister then I can see the Sun and a certain lighbult headline again. I would leave this country in secinds flat. I’ve never voted Tory or Labour in any election. Just wish there was a viable political party to vote for. (Sigh).

[Binman62]

HarryMonk….that simply would not work and adds to the complexity of getting through the airport experience. It is eminently more sensible and straightforward for carriers to collect and then pay.

Thepointbyou make about no shows is howeve valid as whilst the carrier collects the are obliged to pay only for the total number of passengers who actually board an aircraft.

Detailed records are kept which can and are audited by HMRC which shows just how nay FJ WT+ and back of bus actually travel, their fare basis etc. BA for example do not pay the higher level when a W pax is upgraded to WT+ or higher

BA apply substantial fees to inhibit passengers reclaiming APD. They call this an admin fee but given that in most instances, the fare has been forfeit, I personally find this objectionable….but then almost every fare BA sells now has an admin fee when cancelled. Waived if you have ahold card.

[AnthonyDunn]

Hmm. For all of those advocating the abolition of APD, perhaps you might care to suggest a replacement tax, charge or levy? That would at least be intellectually honest and coherent. VAT on all aviation fuel perhaps? Truckers and car drivers pay VAT on what goes into their tanks…

I have just read that the independent Institute of Fiscal Studies has stated that come 2015, whichever hue of incoming government is likely

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/mar/21/budget-2013-ifs-9bn-tax-rises-election

to have to impose additional taxes amounting to some £9Billion at that juncture. This is because the gap between revenue and expenditure is still likely to be so large at that point, that it is going to have be met with additional taxes and additional spending cuts.

So, if not APD, then what instead?

[Bucksnet]

Then nothing, just eliminate APD. There would then be increased economic activity as per the Dutch example.

The gap between revenue and expenditure is £120 billion. The government is spending too much money, and tax rises are the problem not the solution. Cut taxes and then cut spending even more.

At the start of the ‘new’ Labour ‘project’ in 1997 government spending was only about £280 billion, and they admitted that the economy left to them by Ken Clarke was really good. Now government spending is £720 billion and the economy is terrible. I don’t see why people can’t work it out.

[TimFitzgeraldTC]

Hi AnthonyDunn

I think you’ll find that truckers claim all the VAT on petrol back. Likewise fuel on public transport has no duty / VAT and flights are a form of public transport. What I can’t fathom is that this country has a lot of high skilled and quality jobs in Aviation and all the support services associated with Aerospace. Yet rather than support it successive governments seem to few it as a cash cow and something to beaten back into an unsuccessful place.

Can’t disagree with Bucksnet last paragraph at all. Watching Yes Minister at the moment (again) and the jokes from 30 years ago when I was 3 don’t seem to have changed. If anything it has got worse. How the Humphries of the World must be laughing!

[Bucksnet]

The point I was making is that the economy does better when government spending is lower, and evidence supports this.

[VintageKrug]

A little learning is a dangerous thing.

Your objectives are sound, unfortunately the methodology you propose to achieve those objectives would be calamitous.

[AnthonyDunn]

AOTG/CXDiamond: look away – there will be a mention of Wikipedia

@ Bucksnet – 22/03/2013 10:02 GMT

I don’t know what kind of economics degree you have but when I studied it as an undergraduate and then as part of my postgrad business degree at LBS, the suggestion made by some that cutting taxes/lowering government spending automatically leads to increased economic activity and higher tax revenues – the so-called “Laffer curve” – was (and remains) highly contentious. From a cursory glance at the following ad hoc selection from an appropriately diverse range of sources, the point is made….

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laffer_curve
http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/01/20/in-which-we-spot-the-laffer-curve-in-the-wild/
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1692027,00.html

…lowering tax rates does not, of itself, automatically lead to increased economic activity and increased tax take.

@TimFitzgeraldTC – 22/03/2013 09:15 GMT

I was certainly aware that farmers got non-VATed “red” diesel but I was not aware that truckers were able to claim their VAT back – in which case I am all the more bemused that truckers occasionally blockade diesel production and storage facilities.

[TimFitzgeraldTC]

Hi AnthonyDunn

I might be wrong on the point about VAT reclaim for lorry companies. But I know in my last company we needed VAT receipts to claim for petrol costs when travelling and I imagine that the VAT gets reclaimed somewhere in the process. Any accountants on here know a more definitive answer?

[Bucksnet]

Maybe lowering tax rates does not automatically lead to increased economic activity, but it typically does. Nevertheless, APD needs to be scrapped.

As regards VAT on fuel, all VAT registered businesses can reclaim VAT on inputs. The problem is the duty, and VAT is paid on the duty as well. Farmers and others can get red diesel which has very low duty on it, but still have to pay the VAT upfront.

[canucklad]

I’m just a humble tax payer……..and here are the taxes I’m expected to pay…….

PAYE
National Insurance
Council Tax
VAT
Petrol Duty
APD
Beer & alchol duty
TV licemce fee
A plethara of other hidden charges that end up somewhere else other than who I am giving the cash too….

Conservatively speaking I would guesstamate that for every hour I work i toil for the first 40 minutes to feed the government, and the remaining 20 minutes is what i’m left with for myself….and alas i’m not in a high tax bracket!…

Hardly a good work /life balance….

And then onto the APD……the green tax…allegedly designed to push us onto public transport…..i.e the trains….

And yet…when I purchase a train ticket,…..value for money wise…is akin to paying caviar prices and ending up with cod roe!!

And the points made about he deficit are spot on….excepting for, one simple common sense fact…..I would appreciatte it, if rather than Gideon and Co…dooming and glooming us….they set up a task force and go and find out were this money ended up!…..

Is it any coincidence that the 100 richest people in the UK managed to grow wealtier collectively by the same amount our “we’re all in it together” coffers seems to be short…..

It’s the modern day version of Fagan and Rrobin Hood ….only in reverse!!

[Bucksnet]

Indeed

[Author]

Posts