God help us from midnight!

I didn't really notice when it dropped to 15% or went back up to 17.5% so I don't know how much of an impact it will have tbh.
I had half a tank of fuel this morning and went and topped up - I saved myself a whole 72 pence

Yes but it will be more tomorrow. Add that to other VAT items and it adds up.Gas,elec,certain foods,clothes etc you may laugh now softy,but lets see 12months down the line!

Independent assessors say it will cost the average family about £400 a year, thats not taking into account if you want to do home improvements or buy expensive items like cars or homes etc. As people tighten their belts, unemployment will rise thats for sure.

Thanks Bert, well informed comment!

I'm not laughing at the rise but at my cunning plan that saved me less than a pound.

Just to put the boot in their is another rise in April,that duty rise ,the one that is supposed to be for global warming and keeping the country green,one of many hidden taxes from Liebour,none which have been removed by the LibCons,so I hope you all have deep pockets as 2011 is going to be a bad,sad year for us plebs as this is the year most of them kick in.

Daft Bat

See what happens when you have a phoney boom built on debt? There's no such thing as a free lunch. Still, we haven't got the 22% interest rates yet like we had in the 80's. Wonder how long it will take though.

Whilst these rises are making the LibCons look bad, I hate to point out who may have been in power previously, and who may well be responsible for landing us in the shower of shite we are now experiencing.

They had 13 years to spend all the reserves they inherited and to also waste all the dosh that was rolling in from the "boom" and they still didn't get it right. Suddenly they now know all the answers. Crap.

Im not sure anyone knows the answers, all they do know is how to point out how everyone else is doing it wrong

To me it is to do the same as I would in my own household. Get the debt out of the way and then sort it out from there. It's certainly no good just letting it build up and hoping that it will sort itself out. Ergo, whilst it is being sorted then you have to suffer without luxuries. It's not exactly rocket science. Where these politicians all go wrong is that they still carry on the fat cat bit and expect everyone else to take the weight without murmur. Ratbags.

What was once known as luxuries, ie, cars, holidays, conservatories, etc, etc, is now known as gas, electric and food, they are the luxuries people are going to be forced to cut back on.

Looks like a tighter year spending wise for sure :-(

What winds me up is the fact that there is VAT on electric, gas, water and any food at all. It's not as though you can just turn round and say "Well I'll just scrub round that bit then."

Darling (yes, the former Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer until May 2010) has already stated he was planning 20% VAT, so why the big deal being made my Labour and their supporters now? Its a minimal increase, that "mainly" affects luxuries, one that most of the bigger retailers will be able to take the hit without affecting retail prices (in the same way as they do these £30.00 off offers and the like from time to time on products they want to shift).

Iirc, doesnt it translate into a 2.1p in the pound increase, in which case, something costs you £100 yesterday, it costs you £102.10 in real terms today. Hardly a reason not to buy it. Its going to affect those people buyin Rolls Royces, new cars, new home-cinema setups etc, big time for sure, and my heart bleeds for them.

For the lowest paid workers in society, it will be offset by a rise in the personal allowance in April anyway, so will make little, if any, difference to them.

Most of the uproar is simply scaremongering by the press to sell a story, and by the "New" Labour party who are partly (and some may say, ultimately) to blame for the poor financial position the country currently finds itself in, and the party who oversaw more than 80 tax rises (many of which were stealthy) whilst in office. It is blatent hypocrisy, when the party that abolished the 10p tax rate, comes out and slams a new taxation measure that may hit the poor in the longterm.

VAT is the fairest way of taxing the country if "we are all in this together" imho. Im all for the maximum 25% taxation level personally, if it could be used to remove the lowest earners (say those earning under £12,000 gross per annum or so) in society to be removed from the income tax system completely.

As for everyone claiming the Torys are just interested in raising taxes, I think people need to check the history books, the parties ideology is quite the opposite. We are in the shit, and its going to be tough getting out of it. Nobody is for one mninute claiming it is going to be an easy ride, it will be painful, and we will all have less money as a result of the cuts and increased taxes, but id personally rather take the pain this way, then have to do a Denis Healy, an go cap-in-hand to the IMF for a bail-out, wtih increased taxes and drastic cuts in public spending forced upon us by outside parties ala Greece.

I don't think Darling stated that he planned 20% VAT, he was almost willing to go along with the party policy pledge of stating there would not be 20% VAT.

Darling quite rightly wanted to maintain flexibility of raising VAT to 20% should he need it. There was a leaked document that recommended 18.5% and various stories about 18% or 19%.

Of course Darling did and should "consider" 20% but at no time did he propose it.

And yes, the current government will blame the last government and use this as an excuse to break their own policies. If their policies are that good then things would right themselves without extreme measures. This alternating between "we are recovering" and "there will be more pain" is ludicrous.

Of course he "proposed" it - and when he did he was promptly fired down by Gordon Brown, who instead, had his heart intent on raising NI taxation - which directly hits employees and employers, whereas VAT hits (everyone?) people buying "mainly" luxury items. Brown was a ballbag, now Darling on the other hand, I always previously thought of him as a bit of a prat, but as Chancellor, I grew to have a lot of respect for.

Mandelson confirmed Darling wanted a VAT increase, as has Darling himself. 19% or 20% would have been the obvious to align us with the Eurozone. Only a handful of countries levy VAT less than 19% nowadays.

I still remind all Labour supporters moaning about this VAT rise hitting the poor - 10p tax. Enough said.

I wasnt aware the present government had any policies, prior to their election? Neither side of the coalition were planning or creating a manifesto on the basis of being in a coalition.

There is a big difference between "not ruling out" a rise to 20% and "proposing" 20%.

Mandelson was one of the plethora of people (most of whom were civil servants) that wanted to maintain the flexibility of raising VAT to 20%.

Good spot on the current Government not having a manifesto yet another reason for scrapping the party political system that effectively scraps every blade of democracy we expect. Why not have a no-party, totally independent MP system? We might end up with some politicians again instead of power-hungry go-getters.

A VAT increase in my opinion is not the fairest way of taxing a country. Its a sure way of still getting tax off the needy, underprivileged, and low earner, regardless of who gets tax breaks in the future, Income tax cannot go up on a daily basis, were as increases in commodities can and will take the portion of VAT up as they rise. If what happens and everyone expects unemployment to rise, they will still be hit for VAT, they may have been taken out of the tax system, an increase in the VAT is certainly going to effect pensioners in this country, who hardly have it easy now, Myself i would rather see a fairer tax system, if i need to share that burden, so be it,its hardly fair if some of us can take a hit and others are going to struggle is it. If someone is going to spend 15 grand plus on a car, they are not likely to worry about a 300 quid rise, the ones we should be worried about, are those who are worried about putting their fire on.

Will there be tax on Popcorn?

Yes!

I think if you buy it in it's raw state,then maybe no.If it's been popped and flavour added it could be classed as confectionry
so then bacomes VATable!
Sorry Paul.