Post Brexit

[jof]

I was most disappointed when I opened the curtains this morning to find that the sun was not shining and the roads were not paved with gold. (Maybe someone came round earlier to sweep it up & send it to the NHS)

Imagine then my further dismay when I went into the back garden and was not serenaded by happy small animated wild animals....

 

[Cheshire Cat]

You don't know what you had until it's gone.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I was most disappointed when I opened the curtains this morning to find that the sun was not shining and the roads were not paved with gold. (Maybe someone came round earlier to sweep it up & send it to the NHS)
Imagine then my further dismay when I went into the back garden and was not serenaded by happy small animated wild animals....

 

[An Ankoù]

I was most disappointed when I opened the curtains this morning to find that the sun was not shining and the roads were not paved with gold

Well it was round our way! At least there was a long golden streak on the tarmac where the postman had slid in something before being seen off by next door's dog.
All that glistens is not gold.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

You don't know what you had until it's gone.

Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Saw her at IOW festival in 1970.

 

[chrisbardell]

Perhaps a good example of that is the government's plan to drop the Tampax tax.

Is that the tampon tax which we've been able to set out own VAT rates on since March 2016 (before the referendum)?

https://qz.com/642811/the-eu-will-finally-allow-member-states-to-scrap-their-tampon-tax/

 

[marshbrewer]

Is that the tampon tax which we've been able to set out own VAT rates on since March 2016 (before the referendum)?

I'm afraid the source you quoted doesn't understand the way the EU works. The EU parliament voted to allow member States to set their own VAT levels on sanitary products in 2016. However, as I'm sure you know, it is the EU commission that needs to publish the legislation to make this happen, which they did in 2018, but this hasn't been approved by all member States and doesn't look like progressing any time soon.

That means, therefore, that the lowest we could have set the VAT rate under EU law was the 5% that we had it set at. Now we have left, we are able to set it at zero.

I therefore stand by my original post as something we were able to achieve as a result of leaving.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Is that the tampon tax which we've been able to set out own VAT rates on since March 2016 (before the referendum)?

Don't confuse votes with action. Looking at this Commons briefing note it looks like after that vote it got tangled up in a wider reform of VAT, and the UK's receding influence in Brussels has reduced the impetus to do anything about it.

https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN01128/SN01128.pdf

 

[MickDundee]

I'm afraid the source you quoted doesn't understand the way the EU works. The EU parliament voted to allow member States to set their own VAT levels on sanitary products in 2016. However, as I'm sure you know, it is the EU commission that needs to publish the legislation to make this happen, which they did in 2018, but this hasn't been approved by all member States and doesn't look like progressing any time soon.

That means, therefore, that the lowest we could have set the VAT rate under EU law was the 5% that we had it set at. Now we have left, we are able to set it at zero.

I therefore stand by my original post as something we were able to achieve as a result of leaving.

Ireland and Malta have sanitary products as zero rated for VAT. Both are in the EU.

 

[marshbrewer]

Ireland and Malta have sanitary products as zero rated for VAT. Both are in the EU.

Ireland is allowed to set a zero rate due to grandfathering, a process not available to the UK. I can find no definitive source as to Malta's zero rate?

 

[MickDundee]

Ireland is allowed to set a zero rate due to grandfathering, a process not available to the UK. I can find no definitive source as to Malta's zero rate?

Full list is part of this article
https://m.dw.com/en/tampon-tax-germany-menstruation/a-51154597

 

[marshbrewer]

Thanks for that, unfortunately it doesn't enlighten us as to how Malta is getting around VAT harmonisation rules. It does, however, state that the rules mandate a 5% minimum for EU states.

 

[chrisbardell]

That means, therefore, that the lowest we could have set the VAT rate under EU law was the 5% that we had it set at. Now we have left, we are able to set it at zero.

The 5% we could have rated them at would have been a pittance in the price (approx 9.5p for a pack of Tesco sanitary towels), but we didn't. Germany passed 7% in 2017, I believe. Treasury revenue only c. £15m anyway which could have been - and was, even under Osborne - rerouted to women's organisations.

Even the VAT olive branch concession that I've offered up looks like pretty thin gruel, to be honest. But it's great to see that Brexiteers are feminists at heart, and not simply grasping at straws.

 

[marshbrewer]

Forgive me, but I believe you are missing the point

Previously, we were unable to unilaterally change an aspect of our sales tax system that was considered unfair. Now we can. The example given, the tampon tax which many campaigned against, was an example given of 'good news' You may think this wasn't worthwhile, many disagree.

This will, if course, apply to future areas where we believe that the tax system is unfair, sub optimal, or economically damaging. So, I'm not quite sure how having control of a fundamental economic lever is clutching at straws when describing a good news aspect to Brexit?

 

[marshbrewer]

The 5% we could have rated them at would have been a pittance in the price (approx 9.5p for a pack of Tesco sanitary towels), but we didn't

Just to clarify, that appears to be mistaken; we had already set the VAT rate as low as we could within EU rules, 5%

 

[Cwrw666]

These later comments seem to have appeared from another thread.

 

[dad_of_jon]

I was most disappointed when I opened the curtains this morning to find that the sun was not shining and the roads were not paved with gold. (Maybe someone came round earlier to sweep it up & send it to the NHS)

Imagine then my further dismay when I went into the back garden and was not serenaded by happy small animated wild animals....

I thought we were meant to fall into a big black hole after the sky had caved in? - Nope but Gold paved roads are not all they're cracked up to be either. Global warming would mean they'd melt into the drain every summer.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

These later comments seem to have appeared from another thread.

They were posted in the positive only Brexit thread so I moved them.

 

[jof]

They were posted in the positive only Brexit thread so I moved them.

Thats good, because I was hoping we could have a bit of humour in this one & not take it too seriously.

On the plus side there is still food in the supermarkets even if Waitrose reduction roulette failed to deliver any reduced dinner tonight