TaxPayers' Alliance Bulletin - 19th December 2008
Gordon Brown’s tax on Christmas
With money scarce and jobs under threat, most families will be watching the pennies this Christmas. But, while VAT rates have been cut, the taxman will still demand a hefty sum, with virtually all Christmas purchases, from iPhones to crackers subject to VAT and granny’s sherry attracting excise duty on top. Not forgetting the fuel tax levied on journeys to see family and friends. Our full report on Christmas Tax can be found here. This Christmas, British families will pay an average £204 tax on their festive spending, equal to 500 Tesco Finest mince pies as well as 5 1-litre bottles of Harvey’s Bristol Cream sherry. The total Christmas tax bill will come to £5.1 billion.
The tax on Christmas is made up of:
VAT on Christmas goods and services = £3.7 billion
Fuel duty on people travelling to see family and friends = £141 million
Alcohol duty on Christmas drinks = £1.3 billion
Mike Denham, former Treasury economist and author of the report, said:
"Despite the VAT cut, the taxman is still charging people a hefty bill on the season of good will. Santa is lucky they haven't taxed his sleigh yet. With the recession making life harder than ever for families, Gordon Brown should stop helping himself to so much from our Christmas stockings."
Council madness
This week we came across two councils that would be better off in a pantomime than government. Firstly, Adur council officials have threatened to fine a group of local residents after they took it upon themselves to do what the council had failed to. Secondly, apparatchiks at Torbay council have instructed a jeweller to throw away gold particles that he usually recycles and sells to gold dealers. If he doesn’t throw them away, he faces a £5,000 fine! We’ve included the contact details for the leader of each council so you can bring these ridiculous actions to their attention. Bristol TPA blog
Our Bristol branch has set up a campaign blog to write and expose waste and non-jobs at Bristol council. Please give it a look by visiting their website here. If you would like to get involved in the Bristol TPA – which for the time being will oversee activity in the South West – please contact the organiser James Barlow here.
Action Days
If you would like to spread the low-tax message in your area, email our grassroots coordinator Tim Aker, so we can organise a campaign day in your area for 2009. The current planned action days we’ve got lined up include: Swanage – 6 February and 30 April
Shipley – 6 June
If you’d like to come to these campaign days, please email Tim.
Merry Christmas
The TPA would like to wish all its supporters a Merry Christmas and take this opportunity to thank you all for your contributions to our work and your unwavering commitment to lower taxes and better government. Have a relaxed, enjoyable holiday and we look forward to seeing you in the New Year when we'll be back with more reports, blogs, campaigns and action days.
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