There wouldn't be a revolution. The tax would start out real low and certain people would be exempt. Then the rate would gradually go up as less people were exempt. Sound familiar?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Bumps UK Prices as VAT Rises
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
There wouldn't be a revolution. The tax would start out real low and certain people would be exempt. Then the rate would gradually go up as less people were exempt. Sound familiar?
That sounds like a plaque I saw on a bathroom wall which stated, " If ya can't dazzle them with brilliance, then baffle them with BS! "
Call it what you will will, but it still adds an additional 20%.
Look Out Below
A rant to all those complaining about welfare:
As the world economy slows, more folks will needs some sort of assistance, until the economy picks up.
Many jobs have been and continue to be exported to lower-wage countries. A lot of Chevys are rebadged Daewoos (They buy cars built by them, we buy cars built by them!). All political parties are to blame to a greater or lesser degree. Those who still have jobs will need to help those who don't - unless you don't give a damn about your fellow man.
Ray
A rant to all those complaining about welfare:
As the world economy slows, more folks will needs some sort of assistance, until the economy picks up.
Many jobs have been and continue to be exported to lower-wage countries. A lot of Chevys are rebadged Daewoos (They buy cars built by them, we buy cars built by them!). All political parties are to blame to a greater or lesser degree. Those who still have jobs will need to help those who don't - unless you don't give a damn about your fellow man.
Ray
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.3.1; en-gb; Nexus One Build/GINGERBREAD) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)
As a UK citizen, in no way do I expect Apple to pick up the tab on this one.
Yes it would be a nice gesture of them to do so but if you have the money lying around that you are able to afford a new Mac, you have less to worry about than those that will struggle trying to get enough money for day to day, essential items that are subject to the VAT increase.
As far as I remember, Apple did honour the 2.5% vat cut back in 2008 when some companies didn't reduce their prices and swallowed the difference. That is far worse than Apple going in line with UK VAT.
As a UK citizen, in no way do I expect Apple to pick up the tab on this one.
Yes it would be a nice gesture of them to do so but if you have the money lying around that you are able to afford a new Mac, you have less to worry about than those that will struggle trying to get enough money for day to day, essential items that are subject to the VAT increase.
As far as I remember, Apple did honour the 2.5% vat cut back in 2008 when some companies didn't reduce their prices and swallowed the difference. That is far worse than Apple going in line with UK VAT.
I like this has everything to do with, apple store price changes! On this forum called macrumors: political news you care about
That sounds like a plaque I saw on a bathroom wall which stated, " If ya can't dazzle them with brilliance, then baffle them with BS! "
Call it what you will will, but it still adds an additional 20%.
VAT isn't really directly related to healthcare. It funds a variety of public services.
Yes...
This is Ontario - 13% HST.
Other provinces have different tax rates, some don't have HST ( such as BC.. yet! ). Alberta doesn't have a sales tax.
It would be a bit of a hassle to advertise prices with the relevant taxes included... they'd have to be province specific.
A bit different from the UK, where its 20% everywhere... I very much doubt the VAT rate will ever be reduced. Remember when VAT used to be 15%.
Why should Apple pay your tax? That's basically what you're proposing that Apple do. That is what we call bad business. When you have a product that is in demand, with a relatively short shelf life, you don't lower the price.
Apple knows that we, Americans, are smart and if they sold Apple TV for $50 in the UK, that we would quickly find a way to get one and just plug it in here.
The same way that people in foreign countries have been buying and renting movies from iTunes.
What I am saying is ... there are no prices with the HST included ... it is always a separate item added to the invoice ... never is it shown HST is included in price.
They don't need to lower the price, they just need to keep it the same - as other, very successful businesses are doing.
We don't want products cheaper than in other countries. We want them to cost roughly the same. It's one thing to round prices up slightly, it's another to charge 1/3 more. Americans wouldn't import an Apple TV from the UK if it cost the same amount. Not that it would, the £26 extra I quote is AFTER VAT!
Same o Same o
20% is steep, cut the f@@k out of services and reduce the rate to 15%.
The more you give the Gov. the more Gov. will spend.
20% is steep, cut the f@@k out of services and reduce the rate to 15%.
The more you give the Gov. the more Gov. will spend.
No, you didn't understand the post you're responding to.
He's saying that Apple charge £26 more BEFORE tax to UK consumers (actually, I calculate it as £24).
He's not arguing that Apple pay the tax, just quit overcharging.
The Apple TV would retail at £77 INCLUDING tax in the UK, if the underlying price was $99. It actually retails for £101.
I believe the English people do have representation and they're the ones that voted in this government.
Maybe the UK needs to go to a healthcare system similar to the US. We have a ton of insurance companies that would love to expand.
Or they could raise the price to go to university. That has worked out well here, where the price of a four year college has almost doubled in the last 10 years.
You speak the truth. This has got to be the most level-headed post here.
Except the bit about Social Security. That's the most valuable social program we have.
I do hope this is sarcasm. It can be so hard to tell over the internet.
Last edited:
Unfortunately, the previous government were the ones overspending. We now have a more sensible less-overspending alternative. This tax rise is an attempt to pay off debt.
Why would we want a system that's less than half as efficient as our own? The US system costs double, and is less effective.
Actually, technically, none of the parties won the election. we didn't vote in any government. Two parties formed a coalition and assumed control...
Even our conservative government knows we wouldn't stand for that. For all our problems, we have a healthcare system whose primary motive is not profit.
Yes, it was sarcasm about cutting social security and about the UK adopting the old (hopefully it's changing) US Healthcare system.
Apple isn't overcharging UK customers. It's true that Apple's prices ARE higher in the UK even when you subtract the additional VAT amount that gets added on to the item's US price. But the REASON for that isn't because Apple is making more profit off of UK customers, no, it's simply because the cost of doing business in the UK is higher than in the US. Remember, the VAT gets added onto EVERYTHING that gets bought in the UK, so Apple itself has to spend more money in the UK just to run its business as usual. For instance, the cost of buying the materials for promotional advertisements like billboards and buying paper for printing flyers will all have the additional VAT charges added to the price that Apple has to spend. All the Apple store display shelves, store light fixtures, store floor boards, etc. will all cost more for Apple to buy in the UK due to them having to pay the additional VAT tax on all those products. Etc. etc.
TL;DR Apple isn't overcharging UK customers. Apple's prices in the UK just reflect the additional cost that Apple itself has to pay in VAT taxes merely to buy all their normal business supplies.
P.S. I'm not very familiar with how the VAT tax works, so if what I wrote is untrue for some reason, please explain to me specifically what I haven't accounted for.
Last edited:
Apple's pricing model internationally is flawed, greedy and wrong.
I am not in the UK but in Australia, for 12 months now our dollar has been extremely strong and this week passing the $US. While the $US continue to struggle fiscally Australia is seeing good consumer spending, good property growth and the ASX 200 (top 200 Australian companies on the market) is getting stronger every day.
We now pay the highest prices in the world for Apple products.
They are quick to move their prices up but they will never move them down.
Steve Jobs is happy to reply to emails of complaints about f*&(ing air print but when it comes to a decent question regarding a review of their international spot rates for Australia no responses.
Shame Shame Shame Apple - Time for me to shop online in the US
I am not in the UK but in Australia, for 12 months now our dollar has been extremely strong and this week passing the $US. While the $US continue to struggle fiscally Australia is seeing good consumer spending, good property growth and the ASX 200 (top 200 Australian companies on the market) is getting stronger every day.
We now pay the highest prices in the world for Apple products.
They are quick to move their prices up but they will never move them down.
Steve Jobs is happy to reply to emails of complaints about f*&(ing air print but when it comes to a decent question regarding a review of their international spot rates for Australia no responses.
Shame Shame Shame Apple - Time for me to shop online in the US