McDonalds and Corbyn

[Sunshine]

Tory candidate knocked on my door this evening.
I told him to fuck off.
He looked worried as i slammed the door in his face the poor little cunt.

[John Osborne’s Knuckle]

Children up chimneys.  That must have been while Labour were power.

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VAT on domestic fuel.  reduced to minimum permissible.  Must have been a Tory policy, eh Liq ?

No, that was mostly under the Whigs or Liberals. It was actually Disraeli’s Conservative government which outlawed the practice in 1875!

Could have reduced VAT to zero if we weren’t in the E.U.!

[baggy1]

Children up chimneys.  That must have been while Labour were power.

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VAT on domestic fuel.  reduced to minimum permissible.  Must have been a Tory policy, eh Liq ?

No, that was mostly under the Whigs or Liberals. It was actually Disraeli’s Conservative government which outlawed the practice in 1875!

Could have reduced VAT to zero if we weren’t in the E.U.!

It was at zero until 1994 - was there an EU act that made us start charging, I don't remember it that way but you obvs know a bit more there JOK.

Strangely, looking at Wikipedia, it is the Torys that have repeatedly raised VAT and Labour are the ones that have reduced it over the years. Another myth busted.

Under Margaret Thatcher leadership, Conservative Chancellor Geoffrey Howe increased the standard rate of VAT from 8% to 15% and abolished the higher rate in June 1979.[5][9][13] The rate remained unchanged until 1991, when Conservative Chancellor Norman Lamont increased it from 15% to 17.5%.[5][9][13] The additional revenue was used to pay for a reduction in the hugely unpopular community charge.[13] During the 1992 general election the Conservatives promised not to extend the scope of VAT but in March 1993, Lamont announced that domestic fuel and power, which had previously been zero-rated, would have VAT levied at 8% from April 1994 and the full 17.5% from April 1995.[10][14] The planned introduction of VAT on domestic fuel and power went ahead in April 1994, but the increase from 8% to 17.5% in April 1995 was scuppered in December 1994, after the government lost the vote in parliament.[9][14]
In its 1997 general election manifesto, the Labour Party pledged to reduce VAT on domestic fuel and power to 5%.[15] After gaining power, the new Labour Chancellor Gordon Brown announced in June 1997 that the lower rate of VAT on domestic fuel and power would be reduced from 8% to 5% with effect from 1 September 1997.[16][17] In November 1997, Brown announced that the VAT on installation of energy saving materials would be reduced from 17.5% to 5% from 1 July 1998. Brown subsequently reduced VAT from 17.5% to 5% on sanitary protection products (from 1 January 2001); children's car seats (from 1 April 2001); conversion and renovation of certain residential properties (from 12 May 2001); contraceptives (from 1 July 2006); and smoking cessation products (from 1 July 2007).
In response to the late-2000s recession, Labour Chancellor Alistair Darling announced in November 2008 that the standard rate of VAT would be reduced from 17.5% to 15% with effect from 1 December 2008.[18][19] In December 2009, Darling announced that the standard rate of VAT would return to 17.5% with effect from 1 January 2010.[20][21]
In the run up to the 2010 general election there were reports that the Conservatives would raise VAT if they gained power.[22][23] The party denied plans for such an increase, but refused to rule one out for the 2010 budget.[24][25] Following the election in May 2010, the Conservatives formed a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats. In the 2010 budget, described by PM David Cameron as an "emergency budget", Chancellor George Osborne announced that the standard rate of VAT would increase from 17.5% to 20% with effect from 4 January 2011.[26][27]

Who knew

[Ossian]

Strangely, looking at Wikipedia, it is the Torys that have repeatedly raised VAT and Labour are the ones that have reduced it over the years. Another myth busted.

It may be less the case today, but back in the seventies it was always the 'standard rate of income tax' which grabbed the headlines. Changes to indirect taxation, such as VAT, could be passed off as almost 'optional'; the argument being that there was a choice about where, or whether, consumers spent their money. 

Obviously, as the scope of VAT extended to include all manner of routine household and consumer items, that argument didn't really hold water, but our media - even back then - didn't have the attention span (and probably not the will) to scrutinise these sleights of hand in any real depth, so all manner of things were just allowed to slide by.

Addendum: The preoccupation with the income tax rate was mostly due to the fact that it fed into easy soundbites: "We promise to put more money in your pocket", that kind of thing. Neglecting to mention that it wouldn't be staying there for very long - as a consequence of so many routine purchases costing more - could be viewed as simply an error of omission or perpetrating a con-trick, depending on your perspective.

Those of a certain age will remember that the 1979 VAT jump from 8% to 15% had a particularly big impact on car prices in the UK, as the VAT was also added to the Special Car Tax which existed at the time (10% from memory) - in effect a tax on a tax, which some argued was legally questionable.