So Darling in his pre-budget report announced that VAT (sales tax for those non-UK readers) will be cut from 17.5% to 15% from the 1st of December.
Good. We'll see if in a few weeks time I'll have people asking if all our £39.99 products are now £39.14 or there abouts. I'm sure a lot of retailers will be keen to soak up the decrease, especially as it so small and easy to hide. However in more competitive areas like on the high street I'd expect it to be used to fund more aggressive offers to get people in the door.
He also announced that income tax will rise to 45% for those earning over £150,000 a year from 2011.
Good. But why not 50% or more and starting next month? Honestly, £150,000 thats more than I earn in 10 years! These people can easily afford it and in many cases have been making money at our expense for years.
The government is definitely moving in the right direction to tackle this crisis.
As for the Tories, well you only needed to see their childish behavior during the Chancellor's report yesterday to see that not only don't they take things seriously but that they're living in cloud cuckoo land when they try and blame a global economic downturn on Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling personally.