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[Varche]

How about introducing a tax on the Internet.?

Flat rate per month - say £2 or better still 10p a Gb consumed.

Mooted in Hungary but dropped

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e847f75e-60e2-11e4-894b-00144feabdc0.html

[Sir Tigger KC]

Don't give him ideas!   

[The Sheriff]

Yes, mooted in Hungary, but soon dropped when they realised the outcry and threats of disorder it produced.

[Lizzie_Zoom]

Every time I pay my telephone and broadband bill I pay tax on using the internet; it's called VAT.

But as for the use of content on the internet, how could that be defined by national boundaries? It is called the world wide web for a reason.

[Varche]

It wouldn't matter what or where your content came from, the point is taxing on volume used by an individual. Why should unlimited for one person be 900Gb and another 2Gb (my dad!).?
I accept your argument about VAT but it is a bit like saying I have paid my road tax so can use the roads as much as I like. Big Internet users are getting something for free over smaller users when all said and done.

I can see it only being a matter of time - maybe the EU mandarinos are discussing it right now like the tax on Bank transactions.

[aaronjb]

I accept your argument about VAT but it is a bit like saying I have paid my road tax so can use the roads as much as I like.

Isn't that exactly the situation with roads, though? I'm not aware that we pay any kind of per mile tax to use the roads*


(*Noting that VED doesn't pay directly for the roads and neither does fuel tax so, actually, we don't pay anything to use the roads )

[Lizzie_Zoom]

It wouldn't matter what or where your content came from, the point is taxing on volume used by an individual. Why should unlimited for one person be 900Gb and another 2Gb (my dad!).?
I accept your argument about VAT but it is a bit like saying I have paid my road tax so can use the roads as much as I like. Big Internet users are getting something for free over smaller users when all said and done.

I can see it only being a matter of time - maybe the EU mandarinos are discussing it right now like the tax on Bank transactions.

But again Varche I would say that the more you use your internet connection the more VAT you pay on the increased energy bill you pay. So why do you want everyone to pay twice or thrice in addition to the taxes we already pay?  I certainly will not vote for the party that goes down that route!

It is like saying that the more books and magazines you read, you should start paying VAT on them, and more so every time you read them on-line or in hard copy.  It would be a nonsense and a tax on learning which the internet is for many!

[aaronjb]

Or the more TV you watch the higher your TV Licence should be..

[The Sheriff]

The government is so desperate for money that, after the next election, and no matter what flavour of government, they will have to start taking draconian measures.
The talk thus far has been of our growing economy, especially when compared to the rest of Europe. But Osbourne is finally starting to realise that his legacy of zero hours contracts (to make the unemployment figures look good), and the Lib Dem legacy of raising the rate at which basic rate payers start to pay (£10000), to make the Lib Dems look strong in government, is killing the economy.
Coupled with an ever-growing welfare bill and the absolute refusal to tell pensioners (the grey vote) that they don't know when they're well off, this could turn into a lengthy downturn.
We have been here before, I know, but I honestly don't see any other way of getting out of this one than raising taxes...by a lot. People like me and the wife have felt it in ways that the lower paid don't realise. We lost our child benefit (quite rightly BTW) and Mo's pension contributions have risen from 6.25% four years ago to 11.5% from next April. Plus no pay rise for three years. That's a lot of money to be down on an annual basis. Not moaning, there are people much worse off than us, but just saying that we have all been affected.

Now, if after all of this, the deficit has actually risen, then it doesn't take a lot of sense to realise that there's going have to be some drastic money-grabs to try to put things on an even keel. The world is a very volatile place at the moment, Russia's economy is on the verge of collapse. But don't laugh because when people get desperate, they do deperate things, and wars tend to make people forget about money worries.

Rods (where is Rods) linked to an article that said one morning everyone who had more than £10000 in a saving account would wake up to find 10% of it gone. Don't discount such measures.



Have a nice day.

[Rog]

Rods (where is Rods) linked to an article that said one morning everyone who had more than £10000 in a saving account would wake up to find 10% of it gone. Don't discount such measures.

Have a nice day.

Exactly that happened in Italy some years ago, and that was before the recession

[Terbs]

Its the stupid things they want to spend money on. And what they pay to needless causes.

Mother is in a care home with dementia.......but she still gets £175 heating allowance (half the full amount as they class her as 'shared' building. She does not need it, as do the majority of people not need it. Its nice, but only a bonus. We are not well off at all, but if our £200 never came through I would not give it a second thought. Best bit is...you can't get it stopped.
I thought the financial people were supposed to be brainy, but this heating allowance was not well thought out.
Probably would not amount to billions, but every little helps

[05omegav6]

I have an aunt and uncle, married, both living at the same address but receiving separate pensions. Because of this final detail, they each receive a full winter fuel allowance

Politicians have no chance whatsoever with a Civil Service as farcical as ours

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

The government is so desperate for money that, after the next election, and no matter what flavour of government, they will have to start taking draconian measures.
The talk thus far has been of our growing economy, especially when compared to the rest of Europe. But Osbourne is finally starting to realise that his legacy of zero hours contracts (to make the unemployment figures look good), and the Lib Dem legacy of raising the rate at which basic rate payers start to pay (£10000), to make the Lib Dems look strong in government, is killing the economy.
Coupled with an ever-growing welfare bill and the absolute refusal to tell pensioners (the grey vote) that they don't know when they're well off, this could turn into a lengthy downturn.
We have been here before, I know, but I honestly don't see any other way of getting out of this one than raising taxes...by a lot. People like me and the wife have felt it in ways that the lower paid don't realise. We lost our child benefit (quite rightly BTW) and Mo's pension contributions have risen from 6.25% four years ago to 11.5% from next April. Plus no pay rise for three years. That's a lot of money to be down on an annual basis. Not moaning, there are people much worse off than us, but just saying that we have all been affected.

Now, if after all of this, the deficit has actually risen, then it doesn't take a lot of sense to realise that there's going have to be some drastic money-grabs to try to put things on an even keel. The world is a very volatile place at the moment, Russia's economy is on the verge of collapse. But don't laugh because when people get desperate, they do deperate things, and wars tend to make people forget about money worries.

Rods (where is Rods) linked to an article that said one morning everyone who had more than £10000 in a saving account would wake up to find 10% of it gone. Don't discount such measures.



Have a nice day.

There are more than a few extremely wealthy pensioners in this country. Why are they given  £300 worth of WFA......free TV licence.....free eye tests.......free prescriptions....free bus passes?

This all costs money.

[Varche]

Giving everyone allowances is easier than means testing. Pathetic cop out.
I had been looking forward to my winter fuel allowance but that has been stopped for expats inSpain with some clever accounting. Gits , it has been minus10 here.

However back to the plot. Five years ago rods2 said this government had the opportunity to reverse the ever increasing deficit. They failed us. I Now believe we along with EUrope are heading for a big correction. a grab of assets is the most likely. Easier to take tax off people with something. a lot of Eu Countries have already introduced a reporting system of assets over 50k euros in each category (shares,bank accounts, property, houses )

As STMO says the books aren't,tbalancing. I Just thought a tax on Internet usage would be a good money spinner. my guess is 98percent of all usage is recreational the other two percent being learning. There are already precedents for paying tax more than once on a product and for years folk have said flat rate car tax is unfair and should just be factored into fuel tax.

[Terbs]

Giving everyone allowances is easier than means testing. Pathetic cop out.
I had been looking forward to my winter fuel allowance but that has been stopped for expats inSpain with some clever accounting. Gits , it has been minus10 here.

However back to the plot. Five years ago rods2 said this government had the opportunity to reverse the ever increasing deficit. They failed us. I Now believe we along with EUrope are heading for a big correction. a grab of assets is the most likely. Easier to take tax off people with something. a lot of Eu Countries have already introduced a reporting system of assets over 50k euros in each category (shares,bank accounts, property, houses )

As STMO says the books aren't,tbalancing. I Just thought a tax on Internet usage would be a good money spinner. my guess is 98percent of all usage is recreational the other two percent being learning. There are already precedents for paying tax more than once on a product and for years folk have said flat rate car tax is unfair and should just be factored into fuel tax.

Do I read this right...you could go to bed tonight with £30000 and wake up in the morning with £27000.
If this is so....can you tell me the difference between a low life coming into your house and helping himself to £3000, and if/when caught, goes to jail.
Surely there must be a legal stance on this