With diesel at Ā£1.90 a litre the Treasury is raking in 32 p a litre VAT on top of the 53p Ā of duty, a total of 85p. This is considerably more than forecast for this year before the oil price went up. The Treasury should cut VAT to at most 15% on motor fuel from 20% to cut the pump price by 8 p a litre , so the cost of living is not pushed higher by aggressive extra tax on fuel.
This tax cut should apply in Northern Ireland as part of the U.K. The Treasury seems to think it cannot alter VAT in NI thanks to the Protocol. That is a strange reading of that document as it does not grant Ā the EU any powers over our tax system. We used to differentiate VAT from Republic of Ireland choices of goods and rates even when were Ā both in the EU. Outside we must be free to set our own taxes.
The promised legislation to clarify the Protocol and to uphold our internal market and lawmaking competence can address this issue. It appears it will need take a strong statement of U.K. law to persuade Ā the pro EU or craven Treasury into Ā accepting it can control U.K. VAT. The PM needs to tell the Chancellor the Ā U.K. expects tax cuts that could help cut inflation and ease the squeeze.
June 8, 2022
Given the dire consequences of the Ukraine War and inflation, the government needs to limit it’s tax income to the level it had anticipated in the budget.
All extra revenue generated from VAT and duty should be returned to the people in the form of tax cuts.
Surely, given his equally dire predicament, this would make voters believe that Boris was on their side ? He might even win one of the seats currently up for grabs.
June 8, 2022
Given the dire consequences of the net zero insanity, vast money printing, endless government waste and vast tax increases on inflation (on top of Ukraine) the government needs to reverse these and get fracking! They are in control of these factors.
June 8, 2022
Lifelogic, seriously how many MPs in the Conservative government right now do you think would vote FOR fracking in the UK?
June 8, 2022
Regardless of any point of view regarding the ambiguous zero-carbon project, why is the PM breaking our butts here to save a meagre 1% of the total global carbon emissions, when China is throwing out a world beating 29%?
Furthermore, add in India and the USA and together, those three nations emit over 50%, yet we are doing and spending more than any of them, just to save 1%. Why?
This is the 21st Century definition of insanity and it is all down to Number 10 where the neo-Liberal greenies currently reside.
June 9, 2022
Bill Mayes : āRegardless of any point of view regarding the ambiguous zero-carbon project, why is the PM breaking our butts here to save a meagre 1% of the total global carbon emissions, when China is throwing out a world beating 29%?ā
CAGW/Net Zero has been designed to destroy the economies, social cohesion and finally the democracies of the West, not “to save the planet.”
Not only is it āpointlessā it is also unnecessary. CO2 levels had been dropping for 150m years and at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution it was down to 280ppm, very close to the 150ppm below which plants cannot survive.
June 8, 2022
Johnson should stop his useless Ukraine war posturing right now, and instead spend some time in Wakefield and Honiton campaigning with the local Conservative candidate. That would show us whether he is still capable of winning votes, and in what sort of constituency.
June 8, 2022
Bill B
+100%
June 8, 2022
Bill B,
I doubt the prospective candidates would welcome his appearance. Johnson would probably be loudly booed anyway. So he is likely to keep a low profile and try to work on excuses for future failures.
June 8, 2022
The activities you refer to are not mutually exclusive, he should do both.
June 8, 2022
he’d probably lose votes by turning up !
June 8, 2022
Chris,
Entirely agree, your last point is most puzzling; this government apears to be self-destructive, and knows it, but keeps on the same path. Is it deliberate?
We know Bunter and sound economic management live in different dimensions, but there are others, our host, who have financial and econimic experience who should be shouting and hammering on doors to correct the path.
June 8, 2022
Your manifesto prohibited tax rises. Your manifesto set out spending. Then reality being 180 degree opposite of what you got elected on.
Tax cuts. Well let us see. Your plea did not work with NIC- contrary to manifesto.
Moreover, my council tax bill added another percentage increase for social adult care! How many tax increases for the same thing? My council tax had an increase for rivers authority. My taxes already pay for Environment Agency! Who actually are a self serving body of little or no benefit to the public. We saw and realised this in 2014 when it had religiously followed EU environment policy to cause wide spreadā¦.floods! Look at EA budget and it becomes apparent more money on staff than infrastructure projects. Can you think of a business where its running costs are more than what it delivers?
I spoke to a council worker whose role is about diversity and inclusion. She was very passionate about the virtues of her job. However, she had no concept of how her role provided no benefit whatsoever to delivery of services and was just furthering this govtās culturally Marxist agenda. For example how does it benefit those of us who pay for the service to read āhis and himā in brackets after their name? How many of these people are there in the public sector at huge cost to the taxpayer? All to promote a minority agenda where 0.3-0.7% of the population is transgender. Same for Relationship and Sex Education Act in schools to four year olds. Utter Madness.
June 8, 2022
Good morning.
I disagree, Sir John and I shall tell you why.
Whilst I agree that we should not have such high taxes on fuel, especially domestic fuel, I believe that any attempt by government to reduce the level of taxation in this area will have little to no effect. The reason I state this is because, as others here have stated, the suppliers will not pass on the full saving and will just pocket the difference. So such a measure will have little to no effect.
One way to assist the motorist that the government can apply to the whole of the UK and will bypass the aforementioned, would be for the government to suspend Road Tax for a year on all but the very most polluting vehicles. A Road Tax holiday could very easily be implemented and would give an instant cash boost to the motorist offsetting any price rises.
The government could also cap any Congestion Charge and ULEZ fines further reducing the burden, although this may require both legislation and negotiation with the relevant authorities.
Cut the things that you can control the price of, not the things that you cannot and leave the rest to the market. People will, over time, find the best price and solutions.
Trust us !
June 8, 2022
If the suppliers do not pass it on then there is clearly not a fair and competitive market in the industry and this needs addressing by competition authorities. While they are at it they can look at the vast, unfair government rigged markets between cars/truck and public transport (one vastly taxed and hounded the other hugely subsidised), also between the NHS and private medicine, in housing (social subsidised and private), the vast energy market rigging, banking overdrafts one size for all ~ 39.9% too and load of other areas of grossly unfair practice by both government and private businesses.
June 8, 2022
Yes, that’s the private sector for you.
June 8, 2022
NLH oh get a life, it is the rail unions and other unions sabre-rattling right now wanting more for less, less passengers we want more money! Do you think that works in the none monopoly private sector? The university unions and the universities still expecting to charge ENGLISH students their full tuition fees whilst not providing the service, the government must overturn this and stop the universities charging for days they don’t supply the service.
June 8, 2022
@NLH
You may find the book “Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?” by Mark Fisher, of interest ?
With our hosts permission:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalist_Realism
“Exponents of capitalist realism do not assert that capitalism is a perfect system, but instead that it is the only system that can operate in a means compatible with human nature and economic law.”
June 8, 2022
The private sector, and the people working in it, pay for the NHS – all of the NHS, 100%, every last penny. The public sector pays for none of it, 0%. Shouldn’t you be a bit more grateful ?
June 8, 2022
Funny, I would have thought that all taxpayers, whether they work for the private or the public sector were contributing to the expenses of the state and therefore to the NHS.
There must be something I did not understand properly, thank you for putting me back on the right track, š¤ŖRG.
June 9, 2022
I’ve heard this said before Roy, but if the NHS was a private enterprise they would bill everyone for medical insurance cover and per treatment for anyone without insurance and their staff would contribute taxes as they do now. Do you mean their NHS employer doesn’t pay the Employer’s NI and they would if they were a private firm so the gross Employer’s NI contribution would double to the exchequer in a hypothetical transaction if all the nationalised industries councils etc were privately run?
June 8, 2022
The fuel industry is an oligopoly.
It’s not a private sector free market.
June 8, 2022
Road Tax on my small petrol car is Ā£30 a year. That’s currently about half a tank of petrol. Road Tax on many other cars is far higher, several hundred pounds a year. It’s not a fair way to address the problem, which is too high fuel duty and VAT.
June 8, 2022
Donna. There is extra tax to pay for a few years after purchase on any car costing over Ā£40k. Why? Purchasers have already paid more tax just buying it. It makes no difference to CO2 emissions so what’s behind it?
June 8, 2022
Mark
Indeed, but why not go further and stop all road tax completely, that way you reduce costs for running a government department, those who use the roads the most, pay more than those who do not, at least as far as ICE vehicles are concerned.
This method has been suggested for years but completely ignored, it would also mean courts and the police will not be clogged up with time spent on those who fail to pay their yearly fee.
June 8, 2022
+1
June 8, 2022
exactly…far too sensible when you want to employ hordes of Civil servants and give Police something they can do rather than help chase fraud.
June 8, 2022
Agree
June 8, 2022
What about the Jobs in road tax departments
June 9, 2022
I think it is morally repugnant to pay tax just to keep someone else in a job, the same as it is to give money to dodgy regimes via Overseas Aid.
We, and especially the government, need to rediscover the value of money.
June 8, 2022
The promised legislation has been a long time coming. We will see what it contains. Boris Johnson will not want to upset the globalists or the United States Government.
June 8, 2022
There will be no legislation. The treasury and Rishi are happy using the NIP as a shield.
More talk, no action. Just like the past 13 years.
June 8, 2022
Indeed and undo all Sunakās vast tax increases and his blatant manifesto ratting – on tax, NI the freezing of allowances and the triple lock. To do this we need to cut government spending but this is easy as there is so very much waste and misdirected spending everywhere you care to looks.
Start with the moronic HS2 project (they are quietly cutting parts of this) but the whole project was always economic nonsense it would still ne sensible to kill it fully. Then cancel the soft loans for pointless degrees (at least 75% must be). Then all the subsidies for renewables and electric cars and cancel the net zero religion. Then fire the ~ 50% of civil servants who do nothing useful or even do positive harm as so many do. Then deal with crime and illegal immigration with some real deterrents plus a bonfire of pointless red tape and fire all the pointless red tape producers in government.
June 8, 2022
The PM promises major tax cuts I read. Well about time after Sunakās mad & vast manifesto ratting tax & NI increases. But for tax cuts you need to cut government waste & spending. Killing the net zero insanity and having a bonfire of red tape however is a win/win for government, the private sector and the economy. It enlarges the tax base, increases productivity and increases the tax take too. So why are the Government still increasing it vastly?
June 8, 2022
LL,
Sunak took the job knowing Johnson was in control, that is why Javid allegedly resigned. That is why we witness the chaotic misfit mismanagement of the nations finances. Look at his first socialist budget 11 days before lock down. Even May questioned the the excessive spending and waste!
Blame squarely at Johnsonās foot. Since Cummings left, no discipline strategy or direction. Johnson jumping one way then another. Civil service must his weakness.
June 8, 2022
LL – Sunak already announced NI savings in the Spring statement from this July everyone earning under Ā£35,000 pa will be better off than they were last year because he raised the NI personal allowance taking 2.2m people out of tax and NI altogether. Higher Rate taxpayers will pay more.
June 8, 2022
‘bonfire of red tape’ ? Anybody spotted it or is it like looking for an Osprey crossing the Med into France?
June 8, 2022
One of my local garages had a litre of unleaded at Ā£1.95 on Monday. I expect it’s gone up again by now. Roughly 95p of that is tax: fuel duty and then VAT which is levied on both the fuel and the duty. So it’s double-bubble tax for our greedy socialist Treasury. An 8p a litre reduction is peanuts when the price has increased by 60p a litre in the past couple of months. They need to reduce fuel duty and remove the VAT to bring the price back down to the level it was at before Johnson decided to play at being Churchill.
The same double-bubble tax applies to household energy: except this time it’s so-called “green” levies (roughly 25% of our bills) and VAT charged on top. Scrap the “green” levies. No-one has voted for the Establishment’s ludicrous Net Zero policy; it’s been imposed by a Westminster CONcensus, just like membership of the EU was.
I’m sick to death of being treated like a cash cow by the Socialists in Whitehall/Westminster and then watching them squander it on their moronic policies ; growing “the State” and giving it away to other countries.
June 8, 2022
The Net Zero religion = Back to the Stone Age with Johnson.
There has been some excellent analysis about the background story to the UK’s climate laws on Conservative Woman.
Perhaps Sir John has read it?
Sarah
June 8, 2022
Sarah
Totally correct.
If it was sĆ²Ć²o good then every country in the world would have signed up and be doing it.
Those who can think laterally and out of the box have sussed out with the speed of technology the world is only a few years away from a totally different method of power generation and distribution. Its all a ploy for world domination by the few.
June 8, 2022
+1
Maybe he has also read that the āHealth Securityā nonsense is trying it on with monkeypox ( as I imagined they would) making it notifiable like they did with the āflu.
IF THIS IS NOT NIPPED THE BUD WE WILL HAVE A REPEAT OF COVID and all the attendant horrors.
Drs in the last 30 years became totally incapable of identifying rashes/spots anyway and the supposed symptoms of monkeypox are sufficiently nebulous to cover anything from acne to the āflu.
Do not let them get away with it this time.
June 8, 2022
…but LL what’s he going to do after lunch?
June 8, 2022
I shall prepare a post prandial list! Start with the Ā£1 million each IHT threshold promised by Osborne and kill the absurd taxation of profits not even made on landlords, indexation for CGT gains, restore the old non dom rules the new ones deter inward investment and the wealth from coming to live in the UK, stop attacking the self employedā¦
June 8, 2022
I so wish
June 8, 2022
Perhaps a start might be made by immediately firing any civil servants who have in their job title such words as equality, diversity, outreach, inclusive etc.
June 8, 2022
If UK tax legislation doesn’t apply in Northern Ireland then NI and by extension the UK no longer exists. This planned and glacial dismantling of our nation that started in 1997 is a direct result of voters voting for both the LABOUR AND CONSERVATIVE parties.
I hope those who do vote for the three main parties in England and Scotland take great pride in their achievements as their country sinks beneath the waves
Free-lunch politics has destroyed our nation, our culture and our democracy, as was the intention all along
June 8, 2022
Any tax cuts in the current state of proceedings has got to impact directly on the electorate and his pocket. Cutting a few percentage points off of fuel is reliant on it being passed on to the end user.
But surely the best way to address the current situation is to address the horrendous amount of waste of taxpayers money that occurs on a daily basis through every sector of governmental departments. All the grandiose high spending projects so regularly listed on this site on a daily basis. Just start living within our means and if it means that laws on Human Rights and Climate Change have to be repealed JFDI. This government with a large majority should be steam rolling through any obstructions. Its the lack of thinking and political dogma some say fear that holds this government back.
Start the fight back by getting the people back on your side and stop pissing them off. There are people capable of bringing in the changes needed but none are in the cabinet.
June 9, 2022
A very hefty +1 to that mate !
June 8, 2022
Ban all sales of gas boilers by 2035, Johnson is told. PMās infrastructure tsar says Britain can tackle cost of living crisis by ditching fossil fuels more quickly. Sir John Armitt, chairman of the National Infrastructure Commission, said ministers should replicate the enforced ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030 to also apply to natural gas boilers to āprovide certainty for investors in greener alternativesā.
Except new EVs actually increase CO2 compared to keeping you old car, are not āgreenerā and heat pumps save little or now CO2 either if you do the maths properly. Plus we have no spare low carbon electricity to power them with anyway. Fire him and all his Commission for a start.
June 8, 2022
Banning boilers, icu cars, coal, gas and replacing with evs, heat pumps & renewables is hugely inflationary and totally pointless – indeed it is totally counterproductive.
June 8, 2022
Lifelogic :
Itās far worse than āpointlessā.
The CAGW scam/Net Zero Strategy is designed to destroy the economy, social cohesion and finally democracy.
Thatās why from a scientific/engineering viewpoint it simply doesnāt make sense.
June 8, 2022
LL, yes.
However, since when has a Religion been amenable to Logic?
June 8, 2022
When the canals were built to transport goods in the UK, the Government didn’t ban sailing ships from using the sea and rivers. They didn’t need to because the benefits of the canals were obvious.
When the railways were built, the Government didn’t ban stagecoaches. They didn’t need to because the benefits of the railways were obvious.
When the combustion engine was invented and cars came along, the Government didn’t ban trains. Because the benefits of the car were obvious.
When people started burning coal instead of wood, the Government didn’t ban wood. Because the benefits of coal were obvious. The same applied to “town” gas, oil and in due course, natural gas. The benefits were obvious.
The green loonies want to ban petrol/diesel and natural gas because they know there is no benefit to the alternative products which would result in a natural switch to them. They are more expensive; less efficient and cannot guarantee supply. After several hundred years of progress, they want the country to return to the intermittent energy supplies our forefathers ditched hundreds of years ago. It’s madness …. but the born-again Eco Loon in No.10 is going along with it.
When
June 8, 2022
Let us all hope the ‘Climate Crisis’ comes to our aid and it gets a lot warmer, and sunnier for those with solar panels.
June 8, 2022
Lifelogic
It has always been the banks and the investors that drive and control everything. Its the disease of modern times. Me, me, me, money, money, money and the rest of us can go to hell on a handcart.
June 8, 2022
It would be really illuminating to have full disclosure of politiciansā and civil servantsā investments, to see who is betting on green energy/infrastructure, armaments, big pharma etc and compare this to what policies they are pushing.
June 8, 2022
Initially, I was disappointed to hear that Johnson had won the ‘no confidence’ vote. But then I took solace from the fact that Theresa May ( another terrible leader ) also won her no confidence vote, by a bigger margin than Johnson too.
So, it’s a matter of time.
I’d ask Redwood, if you could arrange for the PTP to elect a competent, sober and honest contender, if you can find one in the Party?
Preferably a leader who isn’t a bloodthirsty warmonger, would be good too.
June 8, 2022
Nothing is going to change until democracy is restored and politicians start to respect the electorate. Parliament is stuffed full of politicians who would cancel Brexit today if they thought they could still get elected afterwards, but that can easily be offset by only putting forward pro-EU candidates, which all the parties often do anyway. Why should Parliament bother to listen to the electorate when they don’t need to? The electorate are toothless, even at a GE if all the choices they have are near identical. Politicians can earn brownie points with organisations and people who are far more important than the plebs! Maybe we need a revolution or another Oliver Cromwell?
The confidence vote clearly agreed that manifestos and the well being of the electorate is less important than the party and a country destroying PM. Manifestos are becoming a work of fiction, but there is NO comebacks for liars and cheats who obtain their seats by fraud. Politicians protect one another, even the frauds, rather than the electorate. Maybe because the majority are frauds themselves? The electorate needs a confidence vote too, in ALL of the parties. Lets have a referendum asking if any of the main parties are fit to govern. The answer would be a resounding NO!
June 9, 2022
Politicians will only start to respect the electorate when the voting system is changed so that they have to.
While the FPTP voting system remains in place, a system which allows the politicians to write off 85% of the electorate as irrelevant (and therefore safe to ignore) before campaigning even starts each time an election comes around, the current lack of respect will stay as it is.
June 8, 2022
The % rates of most of our taxes are far too high. It’s difficult to know where to start.
The most obvious are VAT, which is a regressive tax, and employers NIC which is a tax on jobs.
Also, I thought business rates were being looked at, particularly for our high streets.
Maybe multiple issues are too difficult for the HM Treasury “forecasters” ?
June 8, 2022
Looking at how the prices of petrol and diesel vary so much from station to station and even within the same companyā¦ itās clearly a mickey take. Of course tax could be reducedā¦ thereās many other areas to make savings, such as the civil service, and the HS2, to suggest two areas of waste.
The plans for the world governance continues apace quietly, and not so quietly, in the background. Weāve now got monkey pox as a notifiable disease- is that really necessary?- and Covid vaccine as a standard school jabā¦. despite it still being in trial? This is all part of the vaccinating against everything idea – even ingrowing toe nails, Iāve no doubt. Crazy, crazy world.
June 8, 2022
I agree. The Windfaller-in-Chief is Rishi Sunak.
June 8, 2022
It is perfectly clear from Article 8 of the Protocol that VAT in Northern Ireland is set by the EU, not the UK. So please stop agitating for action that would breach an internatiobal Treaty (ie the Withdrawal Agreement) which the UK agreed to just a couple of years ago with the full support of voters at the last Election
June 8, 2022
Realist – Ireland, like all EU member countries, follows the EU VAT Directive on VAT compliance. However, it is still free to set its own standard (upper) VAT rate. The only proviso is that it is above 15%.
The UK could just drop Northern Ireland’s to that, after all I thought the devolved regions had tax setting powers they do in Scotland.
Now all they need to do is give us an England devolved government.
June 8, 2022
Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax2.
I do not agree with your interpretation of Art.8.
The above directive is referred to by Appendix 3 of the NI Protocol and is informative.
I recommend that you read it although it is heavy going.
The point to be noted is that the above council directive refers to “member states” and does not at any point refer to the “single market”. As Northern Ireland is not a “member state” the VAT standardisation does not apply to it and my opinion the provinces relationship to the single market is not relevant.
June 8, 2022
Instead of tinkering with VAT, why not reduce it down to a reasonable 5% across the board. I believe that this would give a big boost to the whole economy, not just motorists. 15% also offsets 10% inflation.
This boost would easily offset the huge loss of income especially if the PM keeps his promise to drastically reduce the CS! Increased activity in the economy would absorb most redundant public sector workers.
How about a new government policy, ‘set the people free’.
June 8, 2022
A game changer more political than economic. It will show finally whether the Remainers or the Brexiteers have the ascendency and whether Boris has the cojones to act instead of the BS. It is time for you Spartans to go on a concerted āget Brexit done properlyā publicity blitz.
Take action, show leadership, improve poll ratings, vacillate (again) continue a slow death.
In terms of Remainers I see Hunt is being touted as Chancellor. Absolutely not, he will further support the Treasuryās pro EU stance.
In other news, my ever prompt and courteous MP Leo Docherty, one of Borisās inner sanctum tells me the Prime Minister is getting on with the job quoting Ukraine, increased defence spending, getting Brexit done and tackling cost increases etc.
Is this the best he can come up with? Brexit done years ago but in name only, vaccines, now historic and Ukraine with increased defence spending so what? And as for cost of living increases etc a total failure in energy security, egregious green taxes, inflation etc so allegedly working on the problems he caused.
Just shows how out of touch the Boris ites are.
June 8, 2022
GLOBAL !! An obvious failure for the man on the street so now is the time to be LOCAL, time to develop a strong Home Market. Learn to cook and eat seasonal foods, its easy if you try. Buy from the local green grocer and butchers in town. In the supermarket only buy British. Dump Amazon and other con marketeers. Super markets like Morrisons are already working on local by labelling British grown foods and pushing the cheaper imperfect but wholesome vegetables.
Time to fight the globalists and stop them destroying OUR world by their grubby greedy actions. Don’t be cowards so fight back!
June 9, 2022
Correct. And use cash, because if they are able to force a digital currency on us they will use it as a means of social control (as Trudeau did with the trucker protesters in Toronto). The more people who persist in using cash, the harder it will be for them.
June 8, 2022
The issue with VAT as Mark B writes above is that you can not guarantee the cut will be passed on the the end customer. I am in favour of a token cut in VAT to 19% and the removal of VAT from our Gas and Electricity bills as it shows it can be done without EU permission but it will not reduce prices.
To give us back actual money, stop taking so much off us to give it back (Ā£400 electricity rebate paid for from tax already deducted?). Raise the Income Tax and NI thresholds, every Ā£1,000 raised returns Ā£332.50 so by raising the thresholds immediately to Ā£14,000 the Ā£400 is returned to every taxpayer. Anyone not earning Ā£14,000 will be in receipt of some kind of benefit so is already being taken care of.
The new mantra of government should be – it is their money, we should take as little of it from them as possible.
June 8, 2022
Donāt forget Johnson promised early in his tenure to reduce vat on energy but broke it. Just another example to the Leo Dochertys of this world why he so widely mistrusted.
June 8, 2022
Boris Johnson has let down the UK big time and broken all promises he made to the British People during his election campaign a few years ago — Taxes are to high . Especially his so called ” Green Taxes ” Immigration is out of control and prices in the shops and high street are rising daily; And essentials like gas, electricity, petrol and water charges are becoming unaffordable for most of us now.
June 8, 2022
The chancellor made a (temporary) 5p cut to petrol duty recently and it disappeared into the ether. If he were to cut VAT (and by 5% is insufficient) that would be disappear too. It would need Government legislation to compel the passing on of any cut.
Incidentally, I’ve been banging on about removing the 5% VAT on domestic fuel (which I still believe should happen) But alone it would not be enough. The energy companies should be compelled to remove standing charges too. We should pay only for the energy we use. It’s expensive enough without the add-ons.
June 8, 2022
Inflation is the governments friend as far as taxation and debt is concerned.
I see it was reported recently Tax revenue has grown by 21% during the last year !
June 8, 2022
Why cut VAT? It affects both domestic and imported goods equally.
If you’re going to cut taxes (great idea!), cut them in a way which will help British industry. Abolish employer’s NI, if only for those industries that compete in the global marketplace. Return more of the taxes to local councils so they can reduce council tax. Cut corporation tax – multinationals don’t pay it anyway, or put it on dividends, including those that are paid abroad.
As Mark above says, if you cut VAT on motor fuel, the retailers will just add it to the price.
June 8, 2022
I believe Mode 4 migrants are exempt from NI charges.
June 8, 2022
Even Labourās Rachel Reeves would make a better Chancellor than the present āConservativeā bumbler. He stumbles from each of his previous errors to generate more tax blunders.
Chess-champion Reeves maintains the skill to think and steer many moves ahead. Sensible operators make right decisions first time, achieving better results faster.
The mighty Conservative Party has a wealth of talent, but many are holding the wrong portfolio.
As Tommy Cooper said: āUnfortunately, Rembrandt made lousy violins and Stradivarius was a terrible painter.ā
June 8, 2022
Bloke
The real Conservative politicians with the capability of standing this country on its feet do not even have a portfolio.
They have experience, knowledge are doers not talkers, above all they have pride and passion for this country.
How many in the cabinet and junior ministers light up your candles and radiates the WOW factor that you stop and listen to what their saying?
June 8, 2022
What tax has Rachel Reeves said she would cut Bloke?
June 9, 2022
a-tracy
I wasn’t aware, but on looking up, a first glimpse showed 2p off basic rate of Income Tax, and closing non-dom loopholes; probably + various others that are easy for Opposition to moan about. I wouldn’t support her even if she didn’t sound like Janet Street-Porter. The point was that politicians should think many moves ahead, whereas the present Chancellor is a recurring error & rule generator.
As turboterrier indicates, better Conservative exists outside those in office. Opinions vary about who are the best, but the best should now advance.
June 8, 2022
Well Reaves is indeed rather brighter than most Labour Party MPs are, though not much competition. Still daft enough to join Labour though.
June 8, 2022
She did a levels in Maths. F Maths, economics & politics but then wasted it all reading the dire PPE.
It was a girls chess competition at 14 it seems.
June 8, 2022
She has a clever husband and she works really hard. She likes work.
June 10, 2022
Rose: Having a clever husband and working hard are barely enough. Enacting the right decisions efficiently is more effective, even if someone is relatively lazy.
Rachel Reeves might soon become the next Labour leader if a police fine causes Keir Starmer to step down. What then?
June 8, 2022
According to the Irish Times this morning:
https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2022/06/08/uk-poised-to-introduce-bill-dismantling-ni-brexit-deal/
“The aim of the proposed British legislation is to give UK government ministers powers to allow goods from Britain to circulate freely in Northern Ireland, relying on a system of surveillance on products crossing the Irish Sea into Northern Ireland to prevent the requirement for checks.”
How many times does this have to be said?
IT IS NONE OF THE EU’S BLOODY BUSINESS WHAT PRODUCTS CROSS THE IRISH SEA INTO NORTHERN IRELAND.
THE EU HAS A LEGITIMATE INTEREST IN WHAT ENTERS ITS OWN TERRITORY, BUT NORTHERN IRELAND IS NOT PART OF ITS TERRITORY.
If the Irish Times has it right then Liz Truss is proposing to replace one form of control on imports into Northern Ireland for the benefit of the EU with another form of control on imports into Northern Ireland for the benefit of the EU, when if we want to do anything for the benefit of the EU – helping to protect its Single Market – then the controls should be on exports from Northern Ireland to the EU, and in particular exports across the land border into the Irish Republic.
To be honest this is so obvious that I would think the people behind this proposal, as it is described by the Irish Times, must be a bit thick; but I am quite sure that is not the case, so there must be another explanation.
June 8, 2022
+100
Dennis absolutely spot on as usual. Thank you for your informed factual update. I enjoy reading your comments.
The govt is deliberately stupid or wants to leave the door open to rejoin. Why would an independent country want to be dictated to or kept in regulatory orbit without a say. Worst of both worlds.
The govt knew the horrors of the deal and NIP, many publications on it. Why has Johnson not taken action in two years!!
June 8, 2022
Denis, you need to read the Withdrawal Agreement before you make such wrong claims. The UK fully agreed in that (oven ready) deal that EU applies in NI and that there will be the same checks between NI and GB as between GB and France
June 9, 2022
What wrong claims?
If you look at Article 1, “Objectives”, in the protocol:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/840230/Revised_Protocol_to_the_Withdrawal_Agreement.pdf
you will see:
“2. This Protocol respects the essential State functions and territorial integrity of the United Kingdom.”
Would you really try to argue that setting whatever rules may be needed to regulate the movement of goods within its own territory is not one of those “essential State functions”?
June 8, 2022
Denis Cooper
Your last paragraph sums it up completely. There is no other explanation. It’s just mind games trying to justify their position and purpose.
June 8, 2022
This is precisely why I despise the traitor Boris Johnson. He is acting in the interests of the EU, not the UK!! If that isn’t the very definition of a traitor – someone who acts for his country’s enemies, rather that his own – then I don’t know what is. Who will pay for “system of surveillance”? WE WILL. So we, British taxpayers, will be paying to protect the EU’s single market! This is so stupid and treacherous that it makes me vomit. How difficult is it for him to understand that we have ZERO responsibility for the EU’s single market (just as we have no responsibility for the internal market of any other country in the world) and we DON’T GIVE A TOSS ABOUT IT EITHER.
We should be doing the EXACT OPPOSITE. We should be opening up British East/West trade beteween GB and NI, eliminating ALL checks of ANY kind. I have repeatedly said that moving (and moving goods) between London and Belfast should be NO DIFFERENT to moving between London and Birmingham. There are NO CHECKS on the motorway between the latter two cities, so there should be NO CHECKS between the former two either. It really is such a simple concept to understand that I can’t fathom why our politicians are unable to grasp it. Are they all complete morons?
Boris and the Conservative Party are now beyond hope and beyond salvation. The sooner they go to hell the better.
June 8, 2022
And they still haven’t got it:
https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/politics/taoiseach-micheal-martin-plans-to-act-unilaterally-over-northern-ireland-protocol-would-mark-historic-low-point-3723831
“Northern Ireland Minister Conor Burns said the legislation will be published soon.
He said the protocol has led to āridiculously excessiveā checks on goods moving within the United Kingdomās internal market.”
There should be no EU checks on goods moving within the UK, so any checks at all would be “excessive”.
āWe recognise the attractiveness of the protocol and the place that leaves Northern Ireland in”
Like, partially split off from the rest of the UK, and with that gap potentially widening every year.
If the Irish government and the EU think they could have problems with some of the UK exports brought in across the land border with Northern Ireland then they should ask the UK to institute a system of controls on those exports, not on imports into Northern Ireland.
This nonsense all started with Theresa May and Olly Robbins proposing that there should be EU checks on imports into the UK, that is into the whole of the UK rather than just into Northern Ireland.
June 8, 2022
Dennis, you should be aware by now that politicians always, but always, do things in the most complicated, long winded, and expensive way possible, even if nothing needs to be done at all they have to mess about with it, and change it for changes sake, hence the mess we are in with not only Northern Ireland, but a host of other areas as well.
They have not heard yet the phase “if its not broke then do not try and fix it”
June 8, 2022
We can expect nothing but bluff and bluster from this untrustworthy, unprincipled Prime Minister.
June 8, 2022
yes, but apart from all that – he’s a bit of a laugh, isn’t he?
June 8, 2022
Hello Sir John,
I agree that fuel tax should be cut but that is only step one. Will the PM now wake up to the damage he & the Chancellor are doing to the economy & the people? The utter stupidity of putting up N.I. by 2.5% & the lack of action to control the Bank of England money creation last year are directly their fault. In my opinion Rishi Sunk should be sacked or moved & the PM should appoint you as the Chancellor.
Then you can start doing it instead of just talking about it.
June 8, 2022
K f L
Second that.
June 8, 2022
Keith. What about the utter stupidity of cutting back our refineries and relying on Russia to do it for us? Russia produces the CO2 in the first place and then we add to it by importing. Look where we are now! Utterly bonkers and a very good way to make our businesses go bust.
June 8, 2022
My experience of politics makes me believe that politicians only act for themselves. Now that the vultures have landed and are biding their time Sunak will only reduce taxes to make himself look good and never for the benefit of the country.
When the Chancellor reduces the tax burden you will know his leadership bid is imminent.
June 8, 2022
John Miller
Exactly, we don’t trust them anymore.
Where are the real true blue Conservatives?
June 8, 2022
We seek them here, we seek them there, Those Tory voters seek them everywhere. Are they in heaven? – Are they in hell? That damned, elusive Conservative?
June 8, 2022
No not all politicians but many certainly other do much harm but mistakenly believe they are doing good.
June 8, 2022
If the Treasury wants to align VAT with the EU why not reduce the fuel duty instead?
The high fossil fuel prices have been deliberately engineered by the globalists by restricting investment in fossil fuel production. The resulting high prices are designed to impoverish and thereby control their populations.
CAGW is a scam and in fact the Industrial Revolution, which saw the burning of fossil fuels and the emitting of CO2, has saved life on the planet. CO2 levels had been dropping for 150m years and at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution was down to 280ppm, very close to the 150ppm below which plants cannot survive.
June 9, 2022
https://www.fuelseurope.eu/knowledge/refining-in-europe/economics-of-refining/fuel-price-breakdown/
Interesting link to fuel price breakdown in Europe 2020
June 9, 2022
grida.no āTemperature and CO2 concentration in the atmosphere over the past 400,000 years (from the Vostok ice core)ā,
from the original article by J.R.Petit, J.Jouzel et al., 1999, Nature, 399, 429-436.
It clearly shows there have been multiple variations (four clearly visible in the time series) between roughly 280 and 180 ppm these last 420,000 years.
So ORās information is less than credible, particularly when he says that 280 ppm is āvery close to 150 ppmā: just a 46% bigger š
June 8, 2022
If VAT was cut and fuel was 8p a litre less in N Ireland than in Ireland, anyone in Ireland within x miles of the border will nip over the border and fill up in N Ireland. I assume that is what the Protocol sets out to prevent.
June 9, 2022
Mike
The distance from Dublin to Belfast is just over 100 miles. If someone wants to save 20p / litre by driving up to or over that distance and back they are welcome. It is, after all, their money. But logic and commonsense are not the EU and the political classes forte.
š
June 8, 2022
The Daily Telegraph shreds Johnson on his tax pledges, quotes/dates etc proving his comments are worthless.
What is it that his supporters think is acceptable, worthy of continuing in post?
June 9, 2022
To answer your question – Their jobs !
June 9, 2022
The prospect of what would come next, of course.
June 8, 2022
The PM needs to tell the Chancellor that he’s no longer the Chancellor.
It’s about time you threw your hat in the ring for that role, Redwood, old chap.
With a re-shuffle imminent, perhaps now is a good time to have a word in the PM’s shell-like?
June 8, 2022
When it comes to the Protocol, the news just gets worse. The “promised legislation to clarify the Protocol and to uphold our internal market and lawmaking competence” you refer to will, according to the latest reports, “create a high level concept, such as a dual regulatory regime, and then ask industry stakeholders to come up with ideas as to how it would work which can then be tested and challenged.” You really couldn’t make this crap up! Instead of SCRAPPING the Protocol ENTIRELY, which is the ONLY solution I will accept, the government is going to come up with some vague “concept” and then ask others how this might be accomplished! So the government itself is so monumentally clueless and stupid that it doesn’t even have the answer to the problem that it has itself created.
Furthermore, the legislation will NOT actually make ANY changes to the Protocol. NOT ONE. Instead it will simply “give future ministers enabling powers to enact secondary legislation that will give effect either to an agreed way forward, if the outcome of negotiations with the EU are successful, or will give effect to a new unilateral model created by the UK, based on a dual regulatory regime.” So the government will continue to allow the problems to fester while it wastes time negotiating with the EU – rather than acting independently and uniterally as we voted for when we voted for independence. If those negotiationg continue to achieve nothing (how many years will they be allowed to continue before the government gives up?) then the government will institute a “dual regulatory reghime”. NO. This is NOT what we want! We want a SINGLE regulatory regime – a BRITISH one. Is Boris really so stupid, so cowardly and so treacherous that he doesn’t understand the concept of the UK being ONE COUNTRY, completely INDEPENDENT and separate from the EU?
God I despise that useless traitor.
June 8, 2022
I thought Sunak had cut duty to 53.95ppl on motor fuels, while largely withdrawing the red diesel exemptions that push up the cost of refrigerated transport and construction machinery operation.
I hope the government has worked out what happens when the EU stops seaborne imports of Russian oil, particularly of diesel. It will add considerably to supply disruption.
June 9, 2022
Mark :
I read that India is buying Russian oil on the cheap and selling it to the US and the EU (and no doubt us) at āhuge profitsā.
June 8, 2022
will be Ā£2 a litre before long. And I wouls suspect that even when it reaches Ā£3 the Treasury will not act. VAT is an EU tax. Surely now we have left we should drop it completely
June 8, 2022
and it seems fairly obvious that we will soon see a hike in fuel duty to compensate the reducing percantage of the total cost. Mr Sunak might claim to be a low tax tory, but his actions speak louder than his words!
June 8, 2022
And another strapline on PMQs āāGetting on with the Jobāā
Iād just wish this government would get on with cutting VAT
But agree with Mark-B, best to get fracking for shale gas, open oil fields and repeal ‘net-zero’ to put confidence back into the sector; first to increase supply and reduce costs
June 8, 2022
A little off topic but with a reference to Question time ,I was hoping that someone could tell me the names of the 40 new hospitals to be built.Iam no worried that some hospital buildings will be brought back to life..the ones closed by labour.
June 8, 2022
Btw, can anyone tell me why the the Department of Health is advertising for a ‘Deputy Director, Delivery Lead – Covid Passā?
June 8, 2022
Whilst we await this useless Government (plainly not on the side of the people) being forced eventually to adopt your policies, how much damage is acceptable to it and its supporters?
Even the O.E.C.D. now is telling the Chancellor to act.
June 8, 2022
Steady on there Denis- you forget that UK signed agreements about all of this so the EU certainly has a say about what goes on in NI in particular about what goods are imported there from outside. It’s to do with the Belfast Agreement and to negate the need for having a hard border on the island of Ireland.. as far as I know
June 9, 2022
Jacob, the Belfast Agreement does not mention the border. The border was not a problem for the previous Irish PM to Varadkar. Nor was it a problem for both sets of customs officers or the EU Commissioner at the time. It only became “a problem” later, when Varadkar arrived on the scene, and when Parliament passed the Benn Surrender Act. The The NIP is nothing to do with the EU’s Single Market either, but everything to do with punishing us for trying to leave its empire, and attempting to keep us under EU regulation over which we have no say.
June 8, 2022
081823Z
Come on, Sir John: motor-spirit duty (or what ever they’re now calling it) has gone down, since a month after Putler had his Poland moment and invaded Ukraine, from 59GBX to 53. If even I’m aware of that, you ought to be!
Direct taxation of motor fuel is nevertheless still 45 per-cent. of the price paid at the pumps.
On top of that and not considered by your article is what amounts to an ENVIRONMENTALIST surtax: the now mandatory inclusion of five-, ten- or seven-per-cent. ethanol (in E5/E10 gasoline and B7 diesel) — of energy density about a third lower than that of gasoline. Quite apart from the extensive ecological damage this World-wide policy is causing, it unnecessarily raises the cost of fuel and for businesses, unlike VAT, cannot be reclaimed but must be added to costs and therefore passed on to customers and through the chain to consumers.
As I’ve pointed out to all my own acquaintances, the vote of confidence was pointless: who ever be prime minister, which ever party (or coalition of now opposition parties) form the government, the whole Parliament being f.a.p.p. scientifically and economically illiterate, the country ā just as the wider World ā will be still be saddled with the ‘Net Zero’ policy and therefore (to use the technical expression) shafted.
Ī Ī
June 8, 2022
Chlorinated chickens fly again:
https://kildare-nationalist.ie/2022/06/08/northern-ireland-protocol-bill-amounts-to-agitator-legislation-says-doug-beattie/
“The Ulster Unionist leader, who has been among the voices urging the DUP to return to powersharing, offered his backing for a more risk-based approach to goods moving between Britain and Northern Ireland.
Quizzed by Lord Hain on hypothetical concerns over chlorinated chicken entering the EU single market through the permeable border on the island of Ireland, Mr Beattie said that was among a number of issues that could be dealt with on the basis of āriskā.
He added: āYou start to run registers about what the risk items are, so that we take action in regards to it.ā”
I can only repeat, it is none of the EU’s business what goods move between Britain and Northern Ireland, within UK territory and now outside EU territory, and no unionist should ever play along with the pretence that the EU has a legitimate extra-territorial interest in those intra-UK goods movements which should determine UK government policy.
June 8, 2022
081947Z
From the comments I infer that most readers believe ā as, let’s face it, do most people across the World, especially politicians ā in the efficacy of taxing businesses, especially large corporations.
In fact ALL taxation of businesses is the height of economic illiteracy. Any firm with a tax bill to meet merely adds it to its schedule of costs and incorporates it in to its own prices. The tax is therefore passed on to its customers and cascades down the chain … to the plate of the consumer: the only one, having no-one to whom to pass it on, that actually pays tax.
If ever politicians understood this fundamental element of Economics 101 ā don’t hold your breath ā all business taxes would be scrapped. Taxes on businesses serve one purpose and nothing else: making jobs for tax lawyers and accountants.
Ī Ī
June 8, 2022
Hurrah !!
Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove has vowed to end the “scourge” of unoccupied second homes, as part of government plans to boost housing. Mr Gove said a new bill making it easier to charge higher council tax on empty properties in England would “bring life back” to communities.
He also said new powers to force landlords to rent out empty shops would regenerate urban areas.
But Labour said the legislation would not be enough to help struggling areas.
The new powers are in the government’s Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, which started its journey through Parliament on Wednesday. The government has said “levelling up” economic imbalances between regions is a priority, but has faced criticism that its plans are vague.
June 8, 2022
‘its plans are vague’ – previously non-existent?
June 9, 2022
Funny enough we mentioned here that both empty office and shops would, post SCAMDEMIC, be turned into homes.
Nice to know that we here are adding flesh to their bare bones policies.
š
June 8, 2022
Hurrah !!
An application to drill for oil in Surrey has been approved by the government after it had been refused twice by the county council. UK Oil & Gas (UKOG) applied to explore a site south of Dunsfold Road and east of High Loxley Road, in Dunsfold. Waverley Borough Council said it was “the worst possible outcome” and the drilling could lead to “irreversible harm” to the environment.
UKOG said it was looking forward to working with the local community.
UKOG chief executive Steve Sanderson said: “We welcome this decision and its backing for Loxley’s gas as a secure, sustainable energy source with a far lower pre-combustion carbon footprint than imports.”
The planning application had been opposed by campaigners and the Conservative MP for South West Surrey, Jeremy Hunt.
Mr Hunt, who was attending protests against the drilling in January, said: “It’s absolutely extraordinary after COP26 in Glasgow that we are even thinking about drilling for oil and gas in this area.”
Surrey County Council had twice refused permission to build two exploratory wells at Dunsfold.
An appeal by UKOG was then lodged with the planning inspector and the plans were approved by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
June 8, 2022
Such a shame, Dunsfold is (was) a really delightful place. Now it’s just another piece of England that’s lost to globalization and the global energy elites. They make their money out of these places but never actually deign to visit them.
June 8, 2022
One thing I genuinely do not understand is why ministers are so stupid that they never do things that are (i) popular, (ii) quick, (iii) simple, and (iv) cheap. Here’s a topical example: ban all strikes by public transport workers. This would apply to anyone who works for the railways, buses or underground. All it takes is a very short and simple Bill, it costs the government not one penny, and it would be extremely popular with Conservative voters. It would also be good for the economy. So why don’t they do this? I suppose the answer is because they do not want to upset left-wingers. But left-wingers will never vote Conservative, so why care what they think? As I said, I genuinely don’t get it, and just have to conclude that we are governed by retards.
June 9, 2022
“VAT is an inflation machine. We need lower inflation. The Chancellor should cut VAT where it is squeezing us too much.”
Why do we need VAT at all now? It is the EU tax, providing the Commission’s own income. It is alien to us and was only brought in because Southern European countries didn’t readily pay other taxes. Outright abolition would do more than anything to encourage growth. The greatest folly is to have a high rate of VAT on maintenance of old buildings, i.e most houses and flats.
June 9, 2022
An optimistic letter just sent to the Belfast News Letter:
“It could possibly be good news that the government has postponed publication of legislation to change the Northern Ireland Protocol (today), if the delay means that it will now include the new UK laws to protect the EU Single Market that were proposed in the Command Paper issued on July 21 2021.
As urged in a letter published here just a week later (“Bring in penalties to deter exports from Northern Ireland to the Republic of Ireland which evade EU standards”, July 28 2021), asking “why not just go ahead and do that?”and then use that law “to underpin a system of export licences to regulate the carriage of goods out of Northern Ireland into the Irish Republic”.
By now, over ten months later, it could have been amply demonstrated that this rational and correctly focussed alternative to the irrational and obnoxious arrangements laid down in the protocol was both workable and effective in protecting the EU Single Market from unacceptable goods entering that trickle crossing the land border, equivalent to 0.02% of the EU’s GDP, and did not trigger the feared renewal of republican terrorism.
With such helpful provisions included the Bill should stand a much better chance of getting through both the Commons and the Lords, as it would be hard for EU sympathisers to object to a Bill designed to supplement the protocol and reinforce the protection afforded to the EU Single Market.”