November 2006 Archives
...shame about the tax.
Owners of 4x4 vehicles — the so-called Chelsea Tractors — will pay £25 a day for the privilege of driving in London under plans announced yesterday by the city's mayor.
And no, it doesn't matter if you live in the congestion charge zone, and it's parked outside your house. You will be taxed whether or not you drive it.
Red Ken really does have it in for the monied folk, as he sees them:
"Those who buy them can afford to choose from pretty much the whole of the mainstream car market but have chosen to buy one of the most polluting vehicles," he said.
This is (class) war. The pitchforks are out.
If all goes well, 'booze cruises' may soon become a thing of the past. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) is set to rule next week that goods which we buy elsewhere in the EU without setting foot outside the country will only attract duty in the country of origin. No need therefore to traipse across the Channel for booze and fags. We can just order them over the internet, pay the much lower duty charged in that country, and have them delivered here free of UK-duty. This is a big tax saving, as we all know the hefty duty payable on these goods if we buy them in the UK.
Who will suffer? Small businesses in the UK, of course. UK duty is one of the highest in the EU. It therefore makes sense to buy the goods from a country with a lower duty. Who is going to want to buy 200 cigarettes from the local off licence for almost £50, when with a click of the mouse, same cigarettes can be bought from Riga for a little over £7? Uncle Gordon will also suffer as this will lead to a drop in the £15bn he rakes in every year from both tobacco and alcohol duty.
The Fisherman hears rumours that Uncle Gordon plans to increase the £100 penalty for sending in a tax return after the 31 January deadline. Whispers abound that the penalty may be increased to as much as £250. Flaming cheek. Bad enough that the system is now so complex that completing the return is almost beyond the ability of a general practice accountant, there is also to be a hefty fine for late submission.
Gordon Brown is looking for money in every nook and cranny. He dare not raise taxes right now (leadership election, see?), so he has fallen back on his sneaky ways. This rumoured increase is nothing but a tax.This time though, we have a choice whether or not we pay.
Don't give the taxman any more money than you have to.
Start preparing your tax return now.
Apparently, the taxman has been going a bit crazy with our money. Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 show that Uncle Gordon and his staff spent £400,000 on train fares, £755,000 on air fares, and £596,000 on other travel costs (taxis, perhaps?). Where on earth could they possibly have been going? One would not have thought there was any job in the Treasury that entailed traversing the globe that much. Shame they didn't pick up any tax tips from all the low tax economies they undoubtedly visited. Then it would have been money well spent.
When the tax credits system was introduced, the position was that if the claimants later had an increase in income, this would lead to some or all of the credits being clawed back. However, if the increase in income was not more than £2,500, it was ignored. This is called an income disregard.
Due to so many reasons, chief of which was incompetence, many claimants whose income increased beyond the disregard amount of £2,500, were not asked to repay the tax credits. When this was discovered, the taxman decided that he could not, in good conscience, pursue many of the claimants for back payments, as that may cause them hardship. Especially as it was the taxman's fault that the clawback did not work in the first place.
Alas, someone else who thinks our tax system is too complicated:
'Gordon Brown has given Britain one of the most complex tax systems in the world, according to a report published yesterday. ... Among the major economies, only India has a more complex tax system.'
Nothing we have not heard before. Remember the findings of HSBC and the Investment Management Association? See here and here.
Do you think Gordon is listening? Someone try the doorbell at Number 11.
The London Olympics may be facing a VAT bill for £1bn.
The worst part is, the organisers of the Games did not anticipate this at all. They did not budget for it when preparing the bid for the Olympic Games.
Just in case you are wondering how someone could overlook a potential £1bn liability, may I remind you that when this Government is dealing with taxpayers' money, certain principles are disapplied. Common sense goes out the window, and as for basic competence and attention to detail, well, you can forget that.
