UK Election and Our VAT Agreement

[Banker]

10 hours ago, Hairy Poppins said:

I actually wonder whether we'll see an increase to 21% or 22% VAT. 

They're going to have to find the money to repair all the damage done by 14 years of Conservative mismanagement.

Uk taxes will definitely go up as predicted by IMF and many others as there’s a £30bn fiscal deficit looming due to NI reductions etc. NI will probably go up or an NHS tax or both plus other taxes. The financial attractiveness of IOM will improve again once labour spend, spend spend!

[Hairy Poppins]

2 hours ago, Banker said:

Uk taxes will definitely go up as predicted by IMF and many others as there’s a £30bn fiscal deficit looming due to NI reductions etc. NI will probably go up or an NHS tax or both plus other taxes. The financial attractiveness of IOM will improve again once labour spend, spend spend!

I think you are right about UK taxes increasing and potentially the IOM becoming more attractive again. 

But I doubt Labour will go on such a spending spree as some think. They need to spend to fix a lot of problems. But they'll have to be very careful how they do that. 

The attractiveness of the IOM may not last however as we have our own major structural issues and a government that don't know how to reduce waste.

[Roger Mexico]

6 hours ago, 2112 said:

They also have form on wanting to scrap the reciprocal health agreement 

We never got the full story on that one, but the moves to scrap it only came after 13 years of Labour government, so it was hardly a high priority. 

What seems to have happened was that the previous agreements had dated from the times when there was massive UK tourism to the Island and involved an annual payment to IOMG to cover all these potentially sick visitors.  When renegotiation came up, some UK civil servant finally twigged that holiday patterns had somewhat changed in the intervening 50 years and they such subsidy was no longer required.  Eddie Teare, then at DHSC, decided not to renegotiate, thinking they could 'make' lots of money by charging these non-existent tourists and any Manxie disloyal enough ever to leave the island could just buy travel insurance.

Naturally this backfired with all the locals up in arms and the DHSC had to accept the loss of the lump sum they were getting.  Brown claims that he he got the then UK Health Secretary, Andy Burnham, to intervene to extend it and it was then finalised under the new Coalition government.  Last year it was extended to cover treatment in the first six months after arrival in UK/IOM (previously it was only three), so it seems unlikely to be ended soon.

[Roger Mexico]

12 hours ago, La Colombe said:

This is indeed a fascinating local news story. Amazing. If a little light on actual news. 

To be fair Manx Radio have produced a local news story on it:

British citizens living on Island eligible to vote in UK election

"Hang on!" I hear you cry, "Aren't the vast majority of us British citizens?.  Do we all get a vote?".  Well it appears you do if you have ever lived long enough in the UK to get registered:

British citizens will now be able to register in the last constituency they were signed up in before leaving the UK.

There used to be a time limit, but someone who worked there for a couple of years in the 1960s or went to university in the 1970s could now have their democratic say about a country they haven't lived for half a century.  It seems bonkers to me, but the Tories are clearly desperate for Boomer votes and don't care where they live.

[Fred the shred]

The IOM will always be attractive to people with money because of lack of the inheritance tax.

[Declan]

I put a freedom of info request at the time to the UK government and the impression I got was that the offer on the table always was we'll treat yours if they fall ill in the UK and you reciprocate, with no money changing hands. Eddie Teare, possibly the worst Health Minister we've ever had, decides to reject it because everybody had health insurance through work or travel insurance as part of their bank accounts. Burnham, who as the world's only Scouse Mancunian, recognises the personal and cultural ties between the Island and the North West, says fine but the offer's still there. All hell breaks loose. At lunchtime during a Tynwald debate on the matter Brown rings Burnham  and says "we'll take the offer" and returned to Tynwald like he's just conquered Gaul.

[La Colombe]

3 hours ago, Roger Mexico said:

To be fair Manx Radio have produced a local news story on it:

British citizens living on Island eligible to vote in UK election

"Hang on!" I hear you cry, "Aren't the vast majority of us British citizens?.  Do we all get a vote?".  Well it appears you do if you have ever lived long enough in the UK to get registered:

British citizens will now be able to register in the last constituency they were signed up in before leaving the UK.

There used to be a time limit, but someone who worked there for a couple of years in the 1960s or went to university in the 1970s could now have their democratic say about a country they haven't lived for half a century.  It seems bonkers to me, but the Tories are clearly desperate for Boomer votes and don't care where they live.

Well, it's not quite what the op was driving at, but that is rather newsworthy. I can actually vote in this election. I think I will. Nice one. 

[La Colombe]

Just read that story, it was a result of that ex soldier who lived in Italy and was denied a vote in the Brexit referendum having fought in the Second World War. I remember it well. 

[A fool and his money.....]

18 hours ago, woolley said:

Yes, indeed. Surely a "Labour" government would be expected not to do so through a tax which hits the poorest hardest, though.

They're just red Tories now, only out for themselves.

[woolley]

Of course share indices that had been rising are now falling on the mere sniff of the possibility of a Labour government.

[Declan]

54 minutes ago, woolley said:

Of course share indices that had been rising are now falling on the mere sniff of the possibility of a Labour government.

Yeah hedge fund managers are worried that the country won’t be run by hedge fund managers anymore!

You expect us to believe the prospect of a Labour Government hasn’t been priced into share prices for months? 

[CallMeCurious]

22 hours ago, woolley said:

Sir Humphrey will tell them that the City needs them to look after the tax havens. Anyway, the system now is supposed to be based on what we actually pay, isn't it?

Alex has been pushing the spending surveys lately hasn't he? Wasn't that part of the regular review of the numbers used in the VAT split?
Besides, if I recall rightly, when the big changes came in, the gist of it was the UK can do what they wish unilaterally. Hence the agreement was recalcuiated and IOM gov had to suck it up. 

With the billions sent to Ukraine and the state of UK prisons and the NHS, why wouldn't a new government revisit any and all income streams. There certainly won't be anyone in the UK fighting our corner.

It certainly won't help our image if these gambling company arrests turn into something big and nasty.

[woolley]

17 minutes ago, CallMeCurious said:

Alex has been pushing the spending surveys lately hasn't he? Wasn't that part of the regular review of the numbers used in the VAT split?
Besides, if I recall rightly, when the big changes came in, the gist of it was the UK can do what they wish unilaterally. Hence the agreement was recalcuiated and IOM gov had to suck it up. 

With the billions sent to Ukraine and the state of UK prisons and the NHS, why wouldn't a new government revisit any and all income streams. There certainly won't be anyone in the UK fighting our corner.

It certainly won't help our image if these gambling company arrests turn into something big and nasty.

Of course the UK can do what it wishes. This is entirely in keeping with the constitutional relationship. However, if they wish us to continue to be a tax haven on behalf of the City we have to be funded somehow. As for the gambling arrests, surely this demonstrates vigilance on the part of the authorities.

[genericUserName]

I like Andy Burnham. What a pity that Corbyn won the Labour leadership and not him back in 2015.

[Manxman2000]

Andy Burnham was a minister in the Gordon Brown government, it was him who was taking the health agreement off the Isle of Man traveler meaning if you went to Liverpool shopping for a day and had some sort of accident you would get the bill for treatment.  It was the Irish Labour mp that had some affinity with the island who saved the agreement.   Not the type of politician to have looking in this direction. 
 

be careful what you wish for.

On 5/24/2024 at 7:52 PM, genericUserName said:

I like Andy Burnham. What a pity that Corbyn won the Labour leadership and not him back in 2015.