We can change it though. Voting and democracy has to be a fluid thing by nature. If enough of the Country don't like what has happened and want to change it then they can, via a vote at the next election. There are going to be a lot of hacked off holiday makers when they find the queue for UK citizens at passport control is massive and every passport requires a stamp before entry. The idea that it can't be changed is nonsense. That is why we have an election every 5 years.
Fair enough, a while back I thought I'd read something about the EU changing the rules related to online sales for VAT and duty, but I can't find it now. Maybe they changed their minds.
You could well be right but it's for third countries not the single market. But now we are out we could have made the system better for us, easier, cheaper, whatever but we chose to make it worse.
Not the case for any government pensions. My RAF and MOD civil service pensions are taxed in the UK but declared on my French tax return. I have no choice in that.
If you weren't, that's outrageous. I was born in Scotland by accident (was only there two weeks), but I lived there as a young adult for three brilliant years, and genuinely feel I should have a vote on independence. I'm sorry, I really feel your anger and frustration, and I absolutely agree, but for me, the key thing in brexit isn't the economy, it's the freedom of movement. The more downsides that people find, the more sway there will be to re-enter the single market, and with that freedom of movement returns. I honestly don't care about anything else. The brexit leaders lied and lied about this. They are on record as clearly stating that brexit didn't mean leaving the single market. As I said, I believe the vote was oiled by xenophobia, cheerlead by a jingoistic, nasty, totally unconstructive main stream media, and it is where chicken and egg come in. The likes of those utter rags The Express and The Mail, and latterly The Telegraph hide behind the mantra "we are only writing what out readers want to read". This is the very antithesis of journalism, and, to my mind is a cop out and a half truth. Really they should be leading open debate and informing. I've long held the view that there is a large lack of balance and education across the media in the UK. On any debate, other countries national broadcasters will have an expert giving a balanced view of an argument. On the BBC, ITV etc, they have a slanging match between two "experts" who are often vehemently one side or another. The more extreme the topic, the more strident the supporter, the louder the shouting, and the more moderate voice gets drowned out. In the hand wringing weakness of the BBC to show balance, they give equal weight to some frankly bizarre views at times, and it is wrong, as the reputation of the BBC built up by generations before this one, leverages and gives credence to it simply by airing it. This is compounded by the fact that whichever extreme pressure group they trawl for an expert will carefully select their best and most savvy debator, who is then often set against a mild moderate academic who is shouted down. Honestly I sometimes think if the today programme had a debate about slave labour it'd take this format, and you'd be half convinced it was a good thing because the lad on the today programme espousing it was given equal airtime and won the debate by shouting better. Anyhow, I think I'm just thoroughly depressed as well, but it behoves every pro European to point out the drawbacks of brexit wherever possible. Do you think the brexiteers wouldn't be doing the same thing if they had lost through similar means? You can accept the vote (we were given no choice but to by govt, which should immediately have held a further referendum on what exactly the people wanted when they voted for brexit, but of course they were interested only in consolidation of power, and keeping the Tory party from imploding), but it doesn't mean you have to like it, or to stop hoping one day to reverse parts of it.
Don't you get a credit for the tax paid in the UK against your French tax bill under the double taxation treaty that I thought existed between France and UK.
Yes but that still means that I have to pay tax in the UK and am not entitled to any help from the UK. I am not even allowed to use the NHS when visiting, but that is another story. Having been an Army brat all of my childhood, then served a full career in the RAF followed by a stint as an MOD civil servant, I do feel that I no longer have much interest in the country that I served. Not too sure that I ever want to visit again. I can only look on and see what happens now.
Isn't it about the country where the goods are bought receiving the VAT / Duty from that transaction, whether that is easier or cheaper is another thing, but in theory better for the country ?
No, you can hope to, and try to in your own small way, point out the drawbacks, and hope for a change from the spivs and idiots and bigots comprising the current front bench, and a move towards a more balanced govt, greater European cooperation, and a path towards reentry to the single market.
All I would need is to be allowed to vote in the UK, my home country. I will carry on doing my little bit down here in the south of France by welcoming and helping visiting bikers who are in the area. I fear that there will be more Irish, German and Italian rather than Brits in the future though. It is almost impossible to remove the rose tinted specs from the brexiteers now, they feel that they have a victory and will not see anything that will take that victory away. The UK will not re-join the EU as long as the rich politicians are running the country, and I can't see that changing.
All the UK has done is make trade more dofficult regardless of which Country a UK business trades with. The whole beauty of the single market was that borders effectively hardly existed in terms of trade. Once you ad a border point, you have more paperwork, red tape, slower movement and more expensive movement. That is never a good way to trade. Like Flatty, the biggest thing that pisses me off from Brexit, is my own Government has massively restricted my right to move, work and live anywhere in Europe. It is a restriction of freedoms. I will fight that til the day i die but I am 100% certain that the younger generation will at some point want that back.
If you choose to live and base your life in another country, I would question why you should have the right to vote in the UK.
We have got what what we have got, so let’s get on with it and stop bickering over who said what. It’s only 5 days since we officially left the EU, and already armchair experts are predicting what is going to happen next. The media are continuing to feed negativity to us all, with Brexit and COVID 19. It’s far to early to speculate on what will happen, but one thing is for sure if we don’t try to make this work it never will.
Who is "we"? Boris and Mogg, or the man on the street? Do you think that an individual can make any difference? nearly 17 million people didn't want this, if they cannot make a difference in the UK then how can things be be made to work?
Rather predictably, this thread (like any similar) has degenerated into the two factions regurgitating the same old shite that they have been for the last few years. Why can't a thread just be about informing forum members about the topic (VAT) and what the actual changes are, how it directly affects us, and leave it at that? Aside from that, and being guilty of going off topic (VAT), I'm fed up with the nastiness of many of the remainers/rejoiners who still seem incapable of accepting where we (the UK) are rather than trying to be positive and making the most/best of it.
