Game Pricing

[DopaTrain]

Hello

I checked out the price of the Afghan game and it said 25 Dollars. I made an account thinking hey I might like to buy this game and when I log in now it says the game is now 29 Dollars. I log out its 25 I log in its 29. What gives?

[Vacillator]

Are you in the UK?  UK prices (only shown after logging in) went up after Brexit.  What a great idea Brexit was - not!

If you're not in the UK, my apologies and I'm not sure why your price goes up like that...  It's worth it anyway, although I base that solely on WW2 titles.

Edited November 18, 2021 by Vacilllator

[Redwolf]

Sales tax/VAT?

[chuckdyke]

9 minutes ago, Redwolf said:

/VAT?

VAT means Value Added Tax 

[Erwin]

UK VAT @ 20%...  ridiculous especially if you deal with accountants and lawyers and (IIRC) hotels.  It adds a hell of an extra charge and is a PITA.  (Prices in stores include VAT.)  And nothing to do with Brexit.  Just 'orrible UK taxes.  And while the average citizen gets "free healthcare" I've had experience of NHS and it's fallen way down in quality and timeliness.  Getting private care next visit.

[Bufo]

4 hours ago, Erwin said:

UK VAT @ 20%...  ridiculous

Most of the EU countries have higher VATs.

[Ultradave]

11 hours ago, Erwin said:

UK VAT @ 20%...  ridiculous especially if you deal with accountants and lawyers and (IIRC) hotels.  It adds a hell of an extra charge and is a PITA.  (Prices in stores include VAT.)  And nothing to do with Brexit.  Just 'orrible UK taxes.  And while the average citizen gets "free healthcare" I've had experience of NHS and it's fallen way down in quality and timeliness.  Getting private care next visit.

I lived in England for some years for work. Paid taxes, enrolled in the NHS. It all works out. If you weren't paying the VAT, then income taxes would be higher. Expenses have to be paid one way or the other. I was talking to my brother once about taxes. Living in Rhode Island and working in Connecticut I had to fill out 2 state income tax forms, prorated against each other for income earned in each state. He, being in Texas, gloated that he had no income tax at all. Of course, comparing notes, his property taxes on a smaller house than mine were higher than my COMBINED property taxes plus state income taxes. And I live in *supposedly* high tax Rhode Island. Towns, states, countries have to be run and the money has to come from the same places, just by different means

Dave

[Erwin]

4 hours ago, Ultradave said:

If you weren't paying the VAT, then income taxes would be higher.

Main problem with VAT is that it is regressive - hurts those with less money as everyone pays the same (for food etc).  If you have money, you don't care about VAT.  So, VAT helps maintain inequality.  Am fortunate to not have to worry about that.  But, I feel for the average citizen.

[womble]

6 minutes ago, Erwin said:

Main problem with VAT is that it is regressive - hurts those with less money as everyone pays the same (for food etc).  If you have money, you don't care about VAT.  So, VAT helps maintain inequality.  Am fortunate to not have to worry about that.  But, I feel for the average citizen.

Basic food doesn't attract VAT. Didn't know whether it was "exempt" or "zero-rated" (same end result) til I went and found the link below:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rates-of-vat-on-different-goods-and-services#food-and-drink-animals-animal-feed-plants-and-seeds

Also, the deterioration of the NHS under the past decade of mismangement by the Tories seems to be working, if it's driving you to private care, since it's all about Privatisation of the health service by the back door.

[Erwin]

6 minutes ago, womble said:

decade of mismangement by the Tories seems to be working, if it's driving you to private care, since it's all about Privatisation of the health service by the back door.

I can see that effort to privatize everything in the US and UK - eg: Post Office etc.  Make govt-owned enterprises (ie taxpayer-owned) fail and then hand it over at knock down prices (ie at taxpayer expense) to private cos.  Same deal with UK Council Housing in the 80's Thatcher era.  

But, it's also likely that many problems have arisen due to unrestricted immigration which was mandated by the EU.  It's shocking how quality of life and sense of community has deteriorated in the UK since I was a kid there.  UK is well on the way to being "Balkanized".  No one should have been surprised that the working person voted for Brexit.  

[Ultradave]

My wife once commented to one of our neighbors that all of the banks seemed completely incompetent, while the Post Office can do just about anything (including simple banking and insurance) and do it well. "Aye, pretty much," was the answer.

Non-UK experienced people need to know that the Post Office is separate from Royal Mail. We banked at Barclays. They were dumbfounded by me wanting to wire transfer money to my US bank (USAA, which is well used to its members being overseas). I brought them all the info and numbers they needed and they couldn't fill out their own form. At the time, the second biggest bank IN THE WORLD, and they were completely stumped by a wire transfer. We were sending money to our US account to stay under the $10K reporting requirement for foreign accounts. I basically had to show them how to fill out every block on their computer screen. They still charged me the transfer fee   Typical experience. They also would not give my wife a debit card with a chip. Their reasoning was that "then she could spend money without you knowing" Seriously? What is this, 1952? Give her a card. (many places it's required to have the chip and pin, for security, so without it her card would have been pretty useless). 

That being said, we loved living there. We were in the northwest, just on the south edge of the Lakes District National Park, a huge expanse of mountains, lakes and quaint villages. Gorgeous country, plus we were right on the coast too, as a bonus. Mostly small towns, farms, and moors for roaming. The people were universally nice and welcomed us like family. 

Dave

[Grey_Fox]

1 hour ago, Erwin said:

Main problem with VAT is that it is regressive - hurts those with less money as everyone pays the same (for food etc).  If you have money, you don't care about VAT.  So, VAT helps maintain inequality.  Am fortunate to not have to worry about that.  But, I feel for the average citizen.

Consumption taxes are favoured by many economists as they are less distortionary than income taxes. Greg Mankiw, author of probably the most used undergraduate intro to economics textbook, writes about it here in his blog: 
http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2006/06/on-inequality.html
http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2006/06/consumption-vs-income-taxation.html

But yeah, on their own consumption taxes are somewhat regressive. That doesn't mean that it isn't easy to make them progressive through something like Canada's GST credit: https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/child-family-benefits/goods-services-tax-harmonized-sales-tax-gst-hst-credit.html

 

Edited November 19, 2021 by Grey_Fox

[AlexUK]

Lots of issues with current taxation basis. In practice, income tax can be highly regressive, as many citizens with significant wealth avoid paying income tax through various means (use of offshore trusts, using capital gains allowances/capital gains at lower rate, drip-feeding capital gains, and offsetting against losses, avoiding payment of national insurance through employment setups). Makes me rage.

Tax is not an expense, it is a contribution to public services. I can't get my head around the US model - it would drive me crazy to have the risk of medical bills either through lack of cover or excesses even with cover - I just can't imagine the extra stress of all that. 

I am much more in favour of the Scandinavian model in general. High taxes and high social security. Just seems to make sense to me, pity I can't speak the languages (and it is freezing cold/dark for half the year).

For the UK, they screwed up while part of the EU. They had lots of ways to control migration but didn't use them. Maddening that the EU gets blamed for that! Here in Belgium, EU citizens can move here freely but if you don't have a job within (3?) months, out you go, and they are very strong on enforcing that (and mandatory registration/ID cards to track people, with police visits to confirm you live at the address.

And the UK are really struggling now in lots of areas. Many of the migrants have gone, but it is a struggle to find UK citizens to fill the jobs they vacated. Fruit pickers, HGV drivers, Social carers, the list goes on and on. 

[womble]

2 hours ago, Erwin said:

I can see that effort to privatize everything in the US and UK - eg: Post Office etc.  Make govt-owned enterprises (ie taxpayer-owned) fail and then hand it over at knock down prices (ie at taxpayer expense) to private cos. the personal friends of the current PM and cabinet.

There. Brought that up to date for ya  
As to "immigration broke the NHS": that's utter fallacy. Immigration from the EU has been propping up our economy (and the NHS, or at least its associated social care sector) for years. And the disintegration of the sense of community over the past couple of decades can be pinned on the divisive rhetoric (aka blatant [emphatic expletive] lying) of the Tories, their Brexiteer friends and their pet attack dogs at the Daily Fail and other tabloid press.
 

[Ultradave]

1 hour ago, womble said:

There. Brought that up to date for ya  
As to "immigration broke the NHS": that's utter fallacy. Immigration from the EU has been propping up our economy (and the NHS, or at least its associated social care sector) for years. And the disintegration of the sense of community over the past couple of decades can be pinned on the divisive rhetoric (aka blatant [emphatic expletive] lying) of the Tories, their Brexiteer friends and their pet attack dogs at the Daily Fail and other tabloid press.
 

I think that last is something that we were somewhat insulated from, living where we did. We had a real strong sense of local community. Mostly small towns. Lots of farms. In general people were friendly and outgoing. The national park right there so lots of respect and love for the outdoors. Just a great place to live. I'd enjoy living in that same area again. We were pretty far north, about halfway between Lancaster and Carlisle (the two closest cities - small cities), 2 hours north of Manchester, the closest large city.

Dave

[Sgt.Squarehead]

 

[Vacillator]

Liked a bit of KLF in the past. 

As someone who is from 'up North' but has lived in the South West for a long while, I can neither agree nor disagree .

[Ultradave]

10 minutes ago, Vacilllator said:

Liked a bit of KLF in the past. 

As someone who is from 'up North' but has lived in the South West for a long while, I can neither agree nor disagree .

LOL. When we were getting ready to move there, a British friend of ours who lives in Boston, on finding out where we were moving to, said, "Oooh, it's pretty grim up there in the winter. Actually it's pretty grim there all the time. Well, all of England is pretty grim in the winter. "    Of course, by New England standards, it was just fine. A little rainier than we were used to but as we were told, "there's no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing."

BBC Cumbria radio one morning, the weather guy gave the forecast for the day as I was driving to work, "Light overnight rain ending about dawn, winds will pick up, rain returning about 9am, winds will pick up from the west (off the Irish Sea), winds of 30-40mph, with occasional gusts up to 50mph. But it will be warm, so all in all not too bad a day."

He was Scottish  

Dave

[Sgt.Squarehead]

36 minutes ago, Vacilllator said:

As someone who is from 'up North' but has lived in the South West for a long while, I can neither agree nor disagree .

I'm in the Midlands, so it's not my quarrel either. 

22 minutes ago, Ultradave said:

Well, all of England is pretty grim in the winter.

Not any more dude.....We're nearly mid November and I'm wearing sunglasses when I walk the dogs during the day! 

Global Warming FTW! 

 

[womble]

10 hours ago, Sgt.Squarehead said:

Not any more dude.....We're nearly mid November and I'm wearing sunglasses when I walk the dogs during the day! 

Global Warming FTW! 

 

Aye. Most unseasonal. I've yet to feel the need for long sleeves. And I'm not from or in Newcastle.