John_P_Walsh
69p371 comments posted · 2 followers · following 1
2 weeks ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Anthony Browne: Post-B... · 2 replies · +1 points
The VAT system which nearly all countries follow except the US is much better because input tax can be reclaimed. This means that the tax is the same whether one company is vertically integrated or goods and services pass through many hands on their way.
In the EU the rules are largely standardised across all countries, this makes life much easier for companies large and small which trade across boundaries. There was an attempt to standardise rates, but that was largely dropped about ten years ago. Ministers continued to claim that their hands were tied on rates long after it was the case, whether that was civil servants misleading ministers or ministers misleading the public I’m not sure.
Ministers will now have to admit that they are responsible for the VAT system, but really they always were.
4 weeks ago @ http://www.conservativ... - If the Government won'... · 1 reply · +1 points
If commercial land prices are less than for housing then authorities should be made to rezone land till the prices are equalised. That would give more houses in the south and more jobs in the north.
8 weeks ago @ http://www.conservativ... - David Gauke: Next week... · 2 replies · +1 points
8 weeks ago @ http://www.conservativ... - David Gauke: Next week... · 0 replies · +1 points
A typical shipment from the far east will be made up of a whole containerload of a particular product accompanied by twenty pages of the necessary paperwork. A shipment from North America might be a whole shipload of corn with thirty pages of paperwork (food has more demands).
A typical lorryload from Europe would be 1,000 parcels each of which will have a one page VAT invoice but customs don't need to look at it. In future it will need to process 20 to 30 pages per parcel, all of which will need to be filled in. Although the value of trade with Europe is less than with the rest of the world, the number of shipments is vastly greater.
Eventually trade will switch back to the old model where a manufacturer sells to a distributor instead of directly to the user, but that will take time and is more expensive.
10 weeks ago @ http://www.conservativ... - David Gauke: If Johnso... · 1 reply · +1 points
The only practical way forward is a further interim period of the current rules, payments etc. for six months.
Whatever the answer is, we can be sure that brexiteers will claim to be betrayed.The only reason we can't get a better deal is an inability to bang the table hard enough.
10 weeks ago @ http://www.conservativ... - America's election res... · 0 replies · +1 points
So our best bet is a Biden presidency and the Senate being close to an even split. That will mean that a deal will have a chance of getting through. It will need to be acceptable to the Irish too, McConnell and Pelosi have made it clear that they will insist on that.
14 weeks ago @ http://www.conservativ... - "I cannot support this... · 0 replies · +1 points
As many commentators have said, it will encourage development in the South-East of the country. One way to solve the problem would be to prevent councils reserving employment and retail sites for continuing use. This distorts the market as can readily be seen by fact that housing land is twice the price of employment land in some areas. If this distortion were removed it would improve housing supply where most urgently needed and push jobs away from the South-East to other areas.
33 weeks ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Tim Clark: Ministers m... · 0 replies · +1 points
The problem has been that the campaign to make the lockdown absolute has frightened the public too much. It has also ended up with an attitude of obeying all rules to the ridiculous letter even where there is no benefit to society.
34 weeks ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Luke Evans: The shutdo... · 0 replies · +1 points
These more complex rules will require much more exercise of common sense. The stupidity of the earlier messaging - "Don't think, just do what you are told" - has been highlighted by the Cummings affair. Unfortunately the success of that messaging by panicking the population has made it difficult to get them back to work and school.
34 weeks ago @ http://www.conservativ... - WATCH: Stonewall Shapp... · 3 replies · +1 points