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[Lester Burnham]

BBC NEWS | Business | Q&A: The PBR and you

How do you fare?

I've worked out that for me the increase in national insurance wipes out the 2p tax break - and a little more - that I got a few months back.

Overall: worse off

Yay!

(though the NI increase doesn't kick in until 2011, so I can keep my £118 p/a until then)

[Diesel]

Originally Posted by Lester Burnham

BBC NEWS | Business | Q&A: The PBR and you

How do you fare?

I've worked out that for me the increase in national insurance wipes out the 2p tax break - and a little more - that I got a few months back.

Overall: worse off

Yay!

(though the NI increase doesn't kick in until 2011, so I can keep my £118 p/a until then)

Fucking 5 large worse off by 2011?

Labour commie bastards.

Fuck off Alastair Darling...you cunt!

[Bigsby]

Well I don't think I'll be going on a huge spending spree thanks to a 2.5p reduction in VAT. VAT doesn't apply to food so I won't even see much of a reduction when go and do my weekly shop.

They should really be putting some pressure on the fucking energy companies who were quick enough to bring in ridiculous price hikes earlier in the year when oil was high, but now seem to be waiting until the Spring to take prices back down, after everybody's paid a hefty winter fuel bill.

Originally Posted by Bigsby

Well I don't think I'll be going on a huge spending spree thanks to a 2.5p reduction in VAT. VAT doesn't apply to food so I won't even see much of a reduction when go and do my weekly shop.

They should really be putting some pressure on the fucking energy companies who were quick enough to bring in ridiculous price hikes earlier in the year when oil was high, but now seem to be waiting until the Spring to take prices back down, after everybody's paid a hefty winter fuel bill.

Crude is well under half the price it was in March/April but it still costs me a fucking fortune to run my car

[Bigsby]

Originally Posted by Exposure @ Lemon Tree

Crude is well under half the price it was in March/April but it still costs me a fucking fortune to run my car

Yeah, a lot of that is tax however, and although I'm glad petrol has come down I do think that the one advantage of it hitting the likes of £1.15 a litre was that it led to people thinking about their consumption more and only using the car if absolutely necessary, which was a good thing.

But everybody needs to heat their house. Loads of bills are going to land on people's matts in March that folk just can't afford to pay, meanwhile Scottish Power/EON etc make multi-million pound profits.

The government should have said "Reduce your prices NOW or face a massive windfall tax".

Originally Posted by Bigsby

Yeah, a lot of that is tax however, and although I'm glad petrol has come down I do think that the one advantage of it hitting the likes of £1.15 a litre was that it led to people thinking about their consumption more and only using the car if absolutely necessary, which was a good thing.

But everybody needs to heat their house. Loads of bills are going to land on people's matts in March that folk just can't afford to pay, meanwhile Scottish Power/EON etc make multi-million pound profits.

The government should have said "Reduce your prices NOW or face a massive windfall tax".

Yeah, I do agree. My problem is I work about 30 miles away from where my fiancee works. If I was to work out that direction, I'd earn FAR less money. She's a teacher, and you have to take what job is going pretty much, she's just lucky to have a permanent job as a primary school teacher. So one of us has to make the very long journey to work, so we moved out of the city and I now have a 60 mile round trip to work every day!! My car unfortunately needs fuel to run!!

[Bigsby]

Originally Posted by Exposure @ Lemon Tree

Yeah, I do agree. My problem is I work about 30 miles away from where my fiancee works. If I was to work out that direction, I'd earn FAR less money. She's a teacher, and you have to take what job is going pretty much, she's just lucky to have a permanent job as a primary school teacher. So one of us has to make the very long journey to work, so we moved out of the city and I now have a 60 mile round trip to work every day!! My car unfortunately needs fuel to run!!

Yeah, I know. Some people do genuinely need to use their car, especially in the country where public transport is so crap. But for a lot of people it was a wake up call, hopefully people will retain the same mindset now the price has gone down.

Originally Posted by Bigsby

Yeah, I know. Some people do genuinely need to use their car, especially in the country where public transport is so crap. But for a lot of people it was a wake up call, hopefully people will retain the same mindset now the price has gone down.

No chance to be honest! Well, maybe some people, but I suspect that folk will go "woo hoo, diesel is under a quid a litre, I'm going to drive to London and back, just because I can..." etc etc

The public transport issue really grates with me. Where I live, it is physically impossible to even go to the nearest village and get to and from Aberdeen for a full day's work using public transport. If you go to the next village up, you can, but it's bloody expensive! The public transport in Aberdeen itself seems affa dear as well

[Lester Burnham]

Originally Posted by Bigsby

Well I don't think I'll be going on a huge spending spree thanks to a 2.5p reduction in VAT. VAT doesn't apply to food so I won't even see much of a reduction when go and do my weekly shop.

They should really be putting some pressure on the fucking energy companies who were quick enough to bring in ridiculous price hikes earlier in the year when oil was high, but now seem to be waiting until the Spring to take prices back down, after everybody's paid a hefty winter fuel bill.

I do admit that I'm not much worse off come 2011 (pretty negligible amount actually) but I can't help but feel that the big stink of "yay! you're all richer, go out and spend money!" thing is somewhat unfounded.

Let's face it, the VAT cut isn't exactly going to make a huge impact on the average household.

Don't get me started on fuel prices. I just paid a £475 stinking electricity bill.

[Lester Burnham]

Originally Posted by Exposure @ Lemon Tree

No chance to be honest! Well, maybe some people, but I suspect that folk will go "woo hoo, diesel is under a quid a litre, I'm going to drive to London and back, just because I can..." etc etc

The public transport issue really grates with me. Where I live, it is physically impossible to even go to the nearest village and get to and from Aberdeen for a full day's work using public transport. If you go to the next village up, you can, but it's bloody expensive! The public transport in Aberdeen itself seems affa dear as well

Public transport around here is abysmal. From my parents house (if you didn't have a car, and it's roughly 20 miles to Aberdeen) it'd cost you the glorious sum of around £35 a day using public transport.

I'm fortunate enough to be able to use a free chartered bus that my company puts on. However, if I didn't use it I'd be paying £4 a day for the pleasure of nipping from Holburn street to Altens. Pretty shocking considering First receive a fuel subsidy from the council that's taken from the local Council Tax.