Cut in VAT leaves shoppers cold

[temi]

People at newly-opened Westfield in west London gave a lukewarm reaction to the reduction to 15%, with some calling it "vote manure" and "misguided".
Retired manufacturing manager Peter Hounsom, 61, said the 2.5% cut would have no real impact on someone who had just lost their job.
"It's a meaningless gesture. They're making appropriate noises, but what they're doing is not particularly meaningful. It's vote manure," he said.



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[TeamPlayer]

I really can`t see what impact it`ll have on shoppers. All it`ll probably mean is that people will have a little bit more in their wallets (or purses lol) to spend on on the necessary stuff they were going to buy anyway.

The crazy thing is that some companies will have to fork out literally thousands of pounds to reprice their goods, particularly if they are in printed catalogue form. For a little over 12 months at the new rate is it really all worthwhile?

The government would have been better advised to reduce the VAT to something like 12.5% if they really wanted to help, and to give more money to low paid people on tax credits, those with, and those without children. The unemployed get very little too, and an increase in their benefits would I`m sure help.

The key is to give all sections of society more disposable income, make goods cheaper through a decent VAT reduction, and in that way there wouldn`t just be a perceived feel good factor, but in real terms consumers would have gone out and spent.

Oh, and stop spending ridiculous amounts of money on prolonging the Iraq and Afghanistan wars if they are looking to cut expenditure.