I hope this isn't off-topic in this n/group: My sister living in Bournemouth told me on the phone that VAT has been cut to 1 percent. I find this difficult to believe, and that she may be getting it mixed up with the current interest rate. VAT was 17.5 per cent when I left Britain ten years ago, but I think I heard it had been cut to something like 15 some time ago. I've heard nothing about it on the bBC Worried Service.
1 per cent VAT would create a positive storm of comment on the BBC radio! She is 83, of course, and probably doesn't quite comprehend all she hears on the media. When she told me some time ago that all Woolworth branches were closing, I just refused to credit this, but someone I email with in Wales has since mentioned it too. Incredible.
T Thanks for the info.
Had to think about that one for a minute! It's right enough though. People here in the Republic of texas are just flabbergasted when I tell them what the British VAT is; the texan State sales tax is minimal, I forget the exact figure, something like 2.5 percent I seem to recall, so the cost of living here is remarkably low.
snipped-for-privacy@flashy.nut (Ian) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:
She is.
1st December.
Just to clarify, VAT is now 15% and the base rate is 1.5%.
(And to clarify further, the VAT change means about 2.1% off most things, not the 2.5% that nearly everyone assumes.)
snipped-for-privacy@flashy.nut (Ian) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:
I'm just amazed it hadn't happened years ago.
In a bad way, was it? Well, they won't be on their own this year; the forecast here in the States is for even more stores to close down than last year, and that was bad enough. People are just not spending as they were doing.
I've often tried to think of a way to use that, but the few I came up with were weak. Incidentally, I've learned that Texas was a Republic for a time, and still has its own 'national' flag with of course a single (lone) star on it. And apparently Texas is the only State that has reserved the right to secede from the Union, though I doubt very much that the Federal government would permit this.
I read that as "the Repulic of taxes" and thought it was a great description!
Chris
That doesn't make sense. It has either reserved the right or it hasn't, and if it has, and hasn't subsequently given it up, then it still has it, and would therefore not need the federal government's permission to exercise it.
Or do you mean the FG would just invade it, as it has other sovereign states, because of the oil? :-)
That's merely an urban myth.
Mark
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