Thoughts
Content owners are probably going to start doing deals with ISPs to get them on-side. In the old days, we’d call this “bribery”. Those with keen eyes on the net neutrality debates should pay attention to this one as it unfolds.
MPs may well be paid less than “equivalent” jobs in industry, but most people don’t think much of the board members of large companies either. We don’t want Parliamentary representatives who are lured into the job by pay packets and expenses deals.
On that note, “the system lets us do it” is a pitiful defence: plenty of MPs complained that Sir Fred was allowed to take his pension (which was, of course, “within the rules”). Similarly, hitting out at people who are better paid (looking at you, Lord Foulkes) doesn’t help your case: a BBC news anchor paid £92,000 a year may be a lot, but it’s perfectly transparent. An MP paid £64,000 a year and avoiding tax and claiming all manner of personal outgoings back on expenses and avoiding disclosing the whole lot to the public is obtuse and opaque.
VAT-registered businesses claim the VAT back on purchases they make, so that it’s only paid at the end of the chain (i.e., by consumers). What if they couldn’t claim all of it back? What if they could only claim 99% of it? Would would the economic effects be? Would it be a sufficiently proportional measure—i.e., do larger businesses tend to claim back far more VAT than smaller ones? Would prices increase as a result, and would that hurt the consumer more than it would help combat deflation? What would the limit on such a “compulsory VAT” be? 1%? 2%?
