You should check our petrol prices out. It will now cost £70 (or $110) to fill my car up.
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Apple Bumps UK Prices as VAT Rises
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You should check our petrol prices out. It will now cost £70 (or $110) to fill my car up.
Travel broadens the mind. You might be in for a surprise.
When travelling remember to take off the rose-tinted glasses. I'm not saying the UK is the best place to live in the world (that's subjective anyway) but considering factors such as education, health, crime, emergency services, welfare etc, Western Europe is pretty damn high on the list of places to live.
You think that is bad; look at the compliancy costs because of all the exemptions and differing rates! geeze, we have GST in NZ but at least is it on EVERYTHING - no exemptions. I'd hate to own a business in the UK with the sorts of over heads that are imposed upon them.
And because you are not able (or simply not willing) to think any further, it´s so easy for your (local) politicians to fool you.
It will matter if the rest of the EU stop spending. Ireland, Spain, Portugal & Greece are financially screwed and many other countries are on the brink. Apple & everyone else will have to raise prices elsewhere to at least maintain he same level of income.
So it does matter.
Ah well. At least our politicians are now showing fiscal responsibility and trying not to destroy the country's future to subsidise today (like some countries I could mention )
VAT is mostly charged on luxuries. Food, books, chlidrens' clothing etc. are VAT exempt. Energy bills have VAT applied at a lower rate. This is a tiny increase and we're still lower than a lot of other EU countries.
So in summary I couldn't care less what Apple do here. My Macs and iPhone haven't suddenly stopped working because of this. I'll just keep then 2.5% longer and end up paying the same amount.
But of course good news doesn't sell as many newspapers.
)VAT is mostly charged on luxuries. Food, books, chlidrens' clothing etc. are VAT exempt. Energy bills have VAT applied at a lower rate. This is a tiny increase and we're still lower than a lot of other EU countries.
So in summary I couldn't care less what Apple do here. My Macs and iPhone haven't suddenly stopped working because of this. I'll just keep then 2.5% longer and end up paying the same amount.
Not as bad as the doom-and-gloom media like to make out. Spain is out of danger. Greece, Portugal and Ireland are tiny economies that can easily be given a leg up by the larger EU states (as we've already done with Ireland). The crisis in the Euro is pretty much dealt with.
But of course good news doesn't sell as many newspapers.
Umm, just to try and dispel the stereotype, there are a fair few of us who don't mind because it's not as simple as straightforward dollars-to-pounds conversion then add VAT. There are other tax costs to consider and the cost of doing business in the UK is significantly higher than the US which is reflected in the price of products, somewhere around 5 - 10% higher is roughly right. Where we do tend to get tetchy is when companies take the proverbial as was the case when the new Mac Mini was introduced (I can't remember the exact figure but it was around double the usual increase from what I remember).
As for Apple putting the prices up, I really don't know why anyone would expect them (or any other company in the UK) to absorb a VAT rise. Hell they did better than some companies did as a lot of consumer goods actually snuck up quietly before christmas (of course these prices were then discounted for Xmas sales and when they return to 'normal' there won't be any obvious signs that the companies in question have increased them to allow for the VAT rise). Quick link to an article with more details for anyone bored enough to want to read: http://www.independent.co.uk/money/spend-save/stores-raise-prices-before-vat-change-1854247.html
One is called benefit and the other bailout, both paid by taxes. However...
Interesting to see how people have little problem to bash people at the lower end of the social scale - even if those people find work putting downward pressure on the lower incomes, the government almost certainly have to support their living anyway - costing only a couple of thousand a year, while they still fully respect the upper end of the social scale, where a few individuals screw the society by billions, killing the whole economy, destroying the income and life of millions of people without being liable and are not the smallest bit ashamed to grant themselves bonuses from the bailout money.
Apple TV was already too expensive ($99 ex VAT vs £99 inc VAT)... Do they *really* need the extra £2? I would have thought that the sales they lose from going over the £100 price point would be worth it... Very strange.
We don't get free healthcare at all, what do you think NI is? 11% of your income does towards "free" healthcare.
No we get dead-legs here too.
Thats good but im talking about people like who i went to school with who haven't worked since we left school. They have no intention of working and have been able to get away with it for years. There are many people with this mentality that if they can get away with not working then why should they.
And if it's not quite life threating enough, you may die waiting in the endless line in the emergency room.
HAHA Yep... get hit by a car in the US, the first thing the paramedic will do is check for a wallet, not a pulse.
♥ Europe
Actually, NIC payments are supposed to pay for the state pension and other benefits, not the NHS.
If its not life threatening, how do you die? Idiot, you really didn't think that through did you.
Either he/she is a sadist, or holds shares in Apple and thinks that the company will make more money from the rises (which is false since the extra amount goes straight to the Government).
It goes towards NHS, contribution based welfare benefits & pensions. But in reality it all goes into a big pot for the Government to blow on x, y & z.
False. Care in cases of emergency is guaranteed under the law, no matter what your economic or insurance status is. In these cases, they will take care of you first, then ask for your insurance. If you have no insurance, they will probably just end up writing it off, as you probably have no assets to go after if you can't afford insurance. If you do have assets and money to speak of, there is not reason why you shouldn't already carry insurance.
If you can afford to buy a mac, you can probably afford insurance. If you actually have insurance, you're likely to find some of the best medical care in the world in the US. In fact, many top-notch physicians from Europe flock to the US to get paid what they deserve, instead of the table scraps they generally receive in the EU.
Even by that definition some people here get free healthcare, children, pensioners, and low-earners for example. People like myself pay their healthcare costs.
And I'm perfectly happy to do so.
Doing you a lot of good without revalidation
Lets see: imac : 1000$ cost for a family wich can be used for 4+ years
healt insurance 14 000$ cost for a family * 4 = 56 000$ .
Best medical care in the USA? on par with most EU countries wich mean its an expensive and not all that effecient system.
top-notch studying in EU for the low costs and then immigration to the USA? Of course you always have greedy bastards dont you.
Free ...care
I beg to differ on this;
Pensioners have been paying for health care via taxes for all their working life and so all they are getting is their money back!
Children are yet to pay for their health care but they will.
Low-earners still pay tax in one form or another, even on food (yes food), you didn't think food was exempt did you - what about distribution costs etc - OK it is a very small amount but watch the prices slowly rise.
I beg to differ on this;
Pensioners have been paying for health care via taxes for all their working life and so all they are getting is their money back!
Children are yet to pay for their health care but they will.
Low-earners still pay tax in one form or another, even on food (yes food), you didn't think food was exempt did you - what about distribution costs etc - OK it is a very small amount but watch the prices slowly rise.
Haha. I'm an idiot? Do you know what triage is? Do you know that people are not always treated in the order they came into the emergency room. Do you know that several conditions are not initially life threatening, but later can be, depending on the wait time. You may wait considerably longer in the UK if your condition is an intermediate problem compared to the US. Think before YOU speak.