It's properly annoying, guess the government has just latched on to how much money they're making and decided they want their slice
So if you buy something second hand through loot do you pay tax on it? Nope so why should you pay on ebay, I'm getting to see peoples point of view about governements trying to screw over joe public. You pay tax on the day your born and even after you die. I think I'll f*ck off to the remotes of Scotland and live in a mountain shack then anyone comes after me for tax will get shot. (damn note to myself stop playing voilent games as you are becoming less tolerent of people and more angry)
I've been reading some forums on ebay about this issue... no only are they putting VAT on the listing fee - which is acceptable (?) as it is aservice they are putting it on the final valuation fees as well.... secondhand goods anywhere else are exempt of VAT as it has already been paid. Also many of the fee increases are well above the 17.5% that would be added because of VAT - i.e. the homepage listing fee has gone up from £19.95 to ..... £49.95 !!!! Here is teh new fee stucture... pretty good for a laugh... Also here is a pretty heated thread regarding the fee hikes over at the ebay community forum.... They're even putting VAT on the sale of childrens clothes in the EU... I'm sure that can't be legal!
I would pay the taxes in this country if I was getting back anything worth paying so much for. But no ... there is not. Can't even walk safely down the streets at night. Bloody NHS with months long waiting list to get a simple procedure done. Makes it inconvenient for the public as well drives the private rates sky-high. If there was no NHS, then the private practices would keep their rates reasonable to stay alive in a competitive market. Then there is the silly system in this country of insuring each driver on each car. Can't borrow your mates' car for a day cos of that. Why can't they just insure the car or just the driver like in other countries ? If it was just the car, anyone could drive it and would be legal. If it was the driver, then he/she could drive any car and it would be legal. But ofcourse not, they have to make us a policy for each car we wanna drive. And the government giving everything to refugees when there are still homeless people in this country. I don't see the point of taking on more people to support when people in this country still dont have enough. And don't forget the ridiculous speed limits on the motorways over here. Make everyone crawl. I mean come on, atleast on motorways, they could put a reasonable speed limit on it. Of course, the congestion charges in Central London. £5/car/day is just too much. And a £80 fine if you dont pay it before 10pm or whatever. Atleast if they just stuck to the VAT and didnt have other taxes, it would have been reasonable, but they also have to charge taxes on what you are paid for working, on the interest your money in the bank earns. /rant over .... feel much better now, even though I havent said it all.... just had a not-so-good day.
To be honest I'm more annoyed with ebay. In every other industry where a service is provided for a fee (except for financial services) VAT is payable, it's just the way it is. Really Ebay have just used the VAT issue to thinly vale a greedy price increase, much more than 17.5% in many cases, and they'll get away with it too as there's no real competition... What we need is a new well managed auction community to rival ebay.... On the issue of taxes: Indeed the waiting lists are long, but if live in the UK and have little or no money, no matter how bad your situation is you can get the same treatment as anyone else... If you are seriously injured, even if it's your own fault or self induced, you will receive the help you need irrespective of cost. The NHS is at it's best when you're at your very worst, there are just a hell of alot of people in need of non emergency treatment, it is here where the NHS falls down.... It's a simple matter of economics, everyone wants more (better health care, schools, etc...) for less (lower levels of direct and indirect taxation), this unfortunately is an impossible situation, I really don't think it matters which government is in power, so much money will only go so far. Anyway I digress... In countrys such as America where there's no national health service to speak of those without the means to pay for insurance cannot get treatment for many serious illnesses and the cost of treatment in emergency situations is a big issue with private hospitals who expect someone (usually the individual) to cough up. If not then screw you, you're pretty much on your own... Have you ever seen the movie John Q, I'd recommend it, it portrays the grief people experience as the result of the way american healthcare is funded... This all boils down to abuse of the system, theft, insurance fraud amongst other factors... And is more the fault of insurers and not govermental policy as with the VAT issue. This isn't really an economic issue for the tax payer, it's really to do with safety and was introduced in the 70's to conserve fuel. You should check out some of the statistics for fatalities in countries with loosely enforced speed limits or non at all, I certainly wouldn't want to drive there everyday. I don't like paying taxes (in all there forms) anymore than the next man, but I accept that it is a necessary evil, there are many, many countries in the world where people don't pay that much in tax, and in the vast majority of them those unlucky enough to be anywhere near the bottom of the pile get a pretty raw deal. Sorry if that was a bit of a rant, it just does my head in how people moan about paying taxes and at the same time complain that the services they fund are nowhere near good enough.... /no offence, just me ranting
Then we're left with 2 scenarios - 1. Mr. YoungDriver calls Directline. Gets insured on his '92 Fiesta. Puts down the phone. Drives off in his Ferrari. 2. Mr. YoungDriversDad calls Directline and gets insured on his moderate 2.0L car. His 17 year old son drives off in it. Both scenarios would lead to more accidents, more deaths and higher insurance costs. As much as you and I don't want to believe it, insurers do not make much money from young drivers (us). We simply have too many accidents (not just because we're more reckless, but other factors too. eg. we drive late at night, our cars are always packed full of friends etc). Some have asked "In that case, why don't insurers spread their costs out?". At age 30 do you really want to be paying for some little punk to be driving his dad's car? No, me neither. What we do need in this country is a better way of catching people who are not driving legally. As currently it's just a case of random producers, which annoy everyone. There is a system currently being developed through a collaboration between the police, insurers and wireless communication providers. But unfortunately we'll both be over 30 by the time this system is fully implemented and insurance costs have dropped as a result.
In some cases I believe you can go out and drive your mates car for a day, if you have to, depending on the policy. You can be covered third party only on any other car (so not that great), but you can do it...just be wary that if your do crash it or its torched/nicked, you have to pay for all to your mates vehicle, but its still legal if your policy stipulates you can,which some do....but check the small print to be sure.
I am not moaning about high taxes and lack of services. I don't want the service. I would rather pay a lower tax. About the rest of the stuff, I was just ranting, as I had just returned from a bad day, Usually I would just keep it to myself.
