Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Sorry; I didn't realize that you weren't in the UK yourself  .
VAT has been 17.5% in the UK for many, many years. It was temporarily reduced to 15% last year as an economic stimulus, when we were in a recession, but that was only ever a short-term measure. This increase to 20% is part of a package by our new government to get rid of an enormous budget deficit. They aim to "balance the books" within 4 years, by cutting overall government spending by 25%. |
Not really the place, but I can't really see how increasing VAT is going to make people buy more products so that the economy will get moving again. It is more likely to make people buy less.