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Man that is painful.... the taxes I mean.

It is amazing how many things just get passed down to the consumer. The worst thing yet is, the UK residents are going to feel the pinch from all sectors of people trying to pass down their extra costs to the end user.

Consumption taxes suck. I know because I live in Canada, one of the most tax-ridden countries in the world!

...but it's a great country!

People need to realize that the 'low tax USA' also is the (if you are self employed) 'go bankrupt if you get sick USA' or even 'die if you get sick USA'. As they say, freedom comes at a price.
p.s. and that is with insurance!
 
They must have misplaced those notes on a trip somewhere. The Republicans just very recently struck a deal with Obama's administration to extend tax cuts for everyone. Republicans claim to favor reducing the deficit in public, but ideologically they are strongly opposed to raising taxes - particularly on the wealthiest in society.

In case you have not been following the debate closely, "tax reform" (as part of the greater "closing the deficit discussion") is being hotly discussed, and MANY of the proposals (especially Republican ones) feature substituting a consumption tax (which disproportionally costs the poor and middle-class) for much of the income tax (which disproportionally costs the wealthy). This can be done whether or not taxes are cut overall.
The more forthright Republicans (Paul Ryan, the R. Pauls, etc.) appear to have no problem adding a new tax format if the net taxes on the wealthy go down.
 
Quidco?

I just remembered that Quidco do 3% cashback at the Apple Store, there you go, beat the VAT increase and get another 0.5% off!
 
They get CCTV cameras. Lots and lots of CCTV cameras.

Smile, Brits, big brother is watching you :)

The LAST thing you want to tell an Englishman to do is smile.

thebigbookofbritishsmiles.png
 
People need to realize that the 'low tax USA' also is the (if you are self employed) 'go bankrupt if you get sick USA' or even 'die if you get sick USA'. As they say, freedom comes at a price.
p.s. and that is with insurance!


so go be a wage slave or get health insurance like other people i know
 
20%, welcome to socialist Europe.

Undersigned pays 19% tax at the moment, after, of course, paying 52% income tax.

Basically with the current euro/dollar rate and taxes as it is, I pay 1735 U.S. dollars for a entry 13" Macbook Air.
 
Funny... I don't recall the housing debacle being a byproduct of a lack of health care... I thought it was more to do with dumb ass policy where the government told the banks they had to loan money to people who could not afford to buy a house in the first place...

Right on the fact that health care was not a cause; wrong on the fact that there ever was a government policy to force "banks they had to" loan money to poor people. The government certainly had lax policies that made it easy for money lenders to issue dubious loans, but the idea that the government forced anyone to make loans specifically to unqualified borrowers is fiction.
 
Sure, but how much do you pay for health insurance yearly?

And how much does it cover when you do get sick (and I mean really sick, like cancer and disease requiring surgery or treatment with recombinant antibodies costing around USD 10-20 000/dose and so forth)? I get all that for "free" if/when the time comes, without it bankrupting me and my family and without an insurance company telling me that they don't want to cover more treatment. Good luck to you all, but I'll pay the 20 % (or 25 % where I live) for free health care and education gladly. How much does a medical degree cost in the US? Mine cost me: USD 0. ;)

And we certainly hope you enjoy the new drugs and technology that is built on the back of our healthcare system now while you can because as soon as we have social welfare healthcare like the rest of the world that will all end.

Drug and equipment companies will switch focus to manufacturing and agricultue where they can actually make a profit.

And btw there are and were many ways to get medical degrees for free in the US even before the government took over student loans to basically give people free education.
 
And we certainly hope you enjoy the new drugs and technology that is built on the back of our healthcare system now while you can because as soon as we have social welfare healthcare like the rest of the world that will all end.
6 of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies are European.
 
Right on the fact that health care was not a cause; wrong on the fact that there ever was a government policy to force "banks they had to" loan money to poor people. The government certainly had lax policies that made it easy for money lenders to issue dubious loans, but the idea that the government forced anyone to make loans specifically to unqualified borrowers is fiction.

You're right here. It wasn't the government, but it was some "consumer groups" with tacit approva and even supportl from the govt (GWB included) who sued lenders for not loaning to people who shouldn't have gotten loans and used some of those favorite words of "racism" and "redlining" to do it. When the lenders caved and made the loans, suddenly it's "predatory lending.". Now everybody pays.
 
And we certainly hope you enjoy the new drugs and technology that is built on the back of our healthcare system now while you can because as soon as we have social welfare healthcare like the rest of the world that will all end.

I hope you know that some of the largest pharmaceutical companies are European and that you appreciate the vast amounts of money and time poured into medical research in Europe?


And over half of their sales are to the US.

That may very well be, but the drugs and equipment are sold to the US and European countries at the same prices so I don't see how you can say that new drugs are "built on the back of our healthcare system". Nevertheless new drugs and technology are results of R&D, much of it taking place in Europe.
 
No offense to our British friends, but I can't wait until CES starts so we can banter on about all the iPad killers that are to be announced! :D Taxes and politics stink!
 
Debate that with UK residents that find the practice somewhat disheartening, I was simply providing you with facts, which you seem to agree with seeing how you didn't debate them.

He simply provided more facts. (Approximately what the price increase is, and *why* that price increase exists.)
 
Are retailers required to advertise the price with tax? I don't know of anywhere that happens in the US except vending machines, but maybe that's because we don't have national sales tax.

All prices shown in the UK must include VAT, the price shown has to be the price you pay. This applies EVERYWHERE, advertising, in store labels, online, etc.
 
They say it's only to aid in cutting down the deficit but what are the chances of it returning to 17.5? once that deficit has been cut down?...zero.
 
They say it's only to aid in cutting down the deficit but what are the chances of it returning to 17.5? once that deficit has been cut down?...zero.
Of course. If the deficit gets under control as planned the Tories will do their usual and lower income tax (or raise the thresholds). That's how the parties work. Labour put the tax burden onto earnings, the Tories put it onto spending. The Tories see the VAT rise as permanent. They've made no secret of that.
 
Why would people expect Apple to hold the price the same. Apple doesn't lower the purchase price for its products in the US based on what the local sales tax is. What many of our untraveled US citizens don't realize, is that the VAT has to be added on to the purchase price up-front, unlike in the US. If we did the same in the states, our prices would "go up" too.

People should be pissed with their government for adding more tax to their consumer goods, and thus making the total price go up. Apple has not raised their price, and should not lower it (which means Apple would have to pay the government the people's tax).
 
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