What subsidy will the UK government take away next?
The UK government will, from midday tonight, introduce a further two pence a litre tax charge on fuel, a charge which should have come in around 12 months ago but was delayed to give assistance to consumers and haulage companies. However, while this particular move was well flagged by the UK authorities there are fears that many other forms of assistance for UK consumers and UK businesses will soon disappear as the UK government looks to tighten its belt.
The authorities have already confirmed that the VAT reduction introduced last year will not be extended beyond 2009, even though the UK retail sector still has some way to go to recover from the recession. A number of analysts are already pointing the finger at the UK authorities and the fact that the quantitative easing program has been extended, with a further £50 billion pumped into the system, while smaller funding packages aimed at UK consumers and UK businesses are set to disappear.
It seems yet again that, despite the UK government and the UK regulators attacking the UK banking system, the financial sector comes first and everybody else is behind them. Even though UK taxpayers will be hit with further tax increases in the short to medium term, to replenish tax income which has been used by the UK government, there appears to be no end to the assistance offered to the UK financial sector.
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