: Working less in proportion but having more of their productive output used, ie contributing more actual wealth. perhaps thats why some feel underrepresented ("I paid for the damn road") etc.But its the proprtion that actually indicates how much sting is held in a tax, hence with a poll tax, if its set at a flat £200 for everyone, then them as only have £250 are badly stung. Regressive taxes hurt teh poor most.
: The +VAT price is what has to be charged in order for the product to sell and return profit. The point is that sales taxes reduce the amount you can buy, rather than the relative proportions (except where sales taxes are used to influence choise, as in fuel tax)
No, because a sales tax doesn't put prices up, they can't traise the price because competition forces them to hold it down- none of the VAT hikes have increased inflation over here. Most producers can handle the profit, if they can't they go bust, and other producers remain who can pay the profit, and take over the rest of the market. producers can't just slap on a mark up- its defined by the actual *objective* tendancies of the market.
: Do you mean heating fuel? Oh I guess the huge interest group of the old (lots of votes you know) will see to that. I meant vehicle fuel.
Thats not VAT, thats a duty. Further, it has to be noted that 'Private Transport' and road freight are heavilly and silently subsidised- whereas train companies have to actually pay for maintaining their own roads, and pay for environmental protection/repair, etc. Road freight gets that provided free by the government as part of teh roads maintenance programme.
: despite that statistics show a general decrease in the unemployed in the UK since the late 70s?
We've had a long period of growth, and that decrease has been far from even- and there are an estimated 150,000 jobs disapearing from manufacturing, which will eventually hurt....
: I forgot about that BBC license. How incredible that a supposedly free country dares impose a tax on owning a TV on the basis that said tax is used to support a defacto government broadcaster. That you cannot state your disinterest in the BBC as reason not to buy a license is evidence of the UKs closeness to the 'national TV' systems of more overt dictatorships.
I believe if you disable your capacity to recieve BBC the courts buy that now- however, the Public Service Broadcasting System has prevented the worst depravations of the US market, and actually protected a quasi-pluralist culture (strangely the BBC is an important part of my Masters dissertation right now...;) )- because the Law of Central dendancy means that marginal voices are easilly lost from commercial television.
