tax

£20 Broadband Tax

Submitted by JMB on Tue 17/Aug/2010

Via Computer Weekly:

Non-BT networks will have to pay a £20 tax for every home they connect to a fibre-based next-generation network, according to proposals from the Valuation Office Agency (VOA).

This proposal could earn the government some £205m a year. This would be in addition to what it presently earns from business taxes on BT, Virgin Media, Global Crossing and other network operators that specialise in business networks.

The proposal is buried in an appendix to a guide for industryregarding next-generation access networks.

VOA logo

And even more irritatingly, apparently I’ve already paid a £7.50 tax for my Virgin broadband.

Here’s an idea:

Every social media pillock guru with an iPhone who can spell “XML” best of three times has been going on about digital inclusion for years. How about – and this is really controversial - rather than spending money on grants for marginal activities involving social entrepreneurs, fake charities and other oxygen thieves, the VOA/HMRC just choose not to levy a confusing and rather arbitrary tax on broadband cables that will only end up being passed on to customers in higher prices; a tax furthermore that is so confusing that it requires an extensive guidance document for telecoms investors.

Oi, Pickles: have a word with the Treasury and see about giving this lot the Audit Commission treatment, would you?

Expect VAT to rise to 19%

Submitted by JMB on Mon 26/Apr/2010

Via Money Marketing:

Schroders European economist Azad Zangana expects VAT to rise to 19 per cent after the general election.

Zangana says that despite both Labour and the Conservatives having unveiled their manifestos recently, the most important factor for UK inflation is that neither has ruled out an increase in VAT from the current rate of 17.5 per cent.

He says: “We believe that raising VAT from its current rate of 17.5 to 19 per cent would make not only make a significant contribution to the black-hole in the government’s budget forecast, but it would also be the most efficient way of collecting revenues quickly - as a result, we expect VAT to be raised to 19 per cent after the general election.”

Looking at Azad Zangana’s linkedin page, his career includes five years at HM Treasury as an economist, thus I’m inclined to believe this prediction.

Your share of the Council’s debt: £886.83

Submitted by JMB on Thu 14/May/2009

I’ve talked here about your share of the national debt (currently around £22,500) before, but were you aware of your share of the local debt?

The Council’s budget book is the place to find out the figures. Note that this is not per household; this is the amount borrowed by Bristol City Council in the name of each and every man, woman & child in Bristol.

External Debt per Head of Population           £886.83

It get's scarier when you look at the Capital Monitor (not updated in the last 4 months for some reason). The Council propose to carry an average debt of £372 million over the next four years, with the option to borrow as much as £477 million

That’s almost half a billion in debt, just for one city council.

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