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Before you compare prices to UK

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  • 16-02-2009 11:57am
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 3,736 ✭✭✭


    http://listentotaxman.com/index.php?c=1&yr=2008&married=1&age=0&add=0&code=&pension=0&time=1&ingr=30000&vw[]=yr

    http://www.taxcalc.eu/

    Some examples:
    Married couple earning £30,000 equivalent each.
    UK Pays £12,000 more tax.
    Single person earning £20,000 equivalent
    UK Pays £2800 more tax

    Also, water rates & council tax (£2000 per year per household)

    Credit for health insurance that you have to pay in Ireland (gives a far better service than the NHS in the UK).

    The UK taxes based on what you earn, Ireland taxes based on what you spend.

    Take this in to consideration before you post another 'look at the price of this in the UK' thread.
    :cool:


«13

Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 119 ✭✭richardn


    Why take those things in to consideration? UK have been paying similar taxes for several years as well as council tax so even before the £ went down those things make no difference to the fact many prices in Ireland are a rip off.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,736 ✭✭✭ch750536


    What has it go to do with the pound going down?

    Its a different country.

    In the UK do they have 'Ripoff UK' threads saying how cheap stuff is in China?

    Fine, the UK is a similar country to Ireland so a comparison is of some value, but in doing so you have other considerations.

    Such as the fact that minimum wage in Ireland is higher, better working conditions, redundancy conditons etc.

    Higher VAT.

    However, you pay a lot less tax on your earnings.

    You can't compare like for like by comparing a toaster in the UK to its cousin in Ireland, different countries you see. Different factors around those toasters, not all of them bad.


  • Registered Users Posts: 517 ✭✭✭greatgoal


    and prices for most things are double here compared to the UK.we are,and have been robbed here for a number of years,its just that people are starting to notice now and are shopping where prices are a lot less as this recession kicks in.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,736 ✭✭✭ch750536


    Dont start talking tosh greatgoal.

    Most things double.

    Indeed.

    China is cheap.


  • Registered Users Posts: 17,399 ✭✭✭✭r3nu4l


    Totally agree with the OP. Another thing to note is that in the UK there's no such thing as mortgage interest relief and first-time buyers don't get grants or stamp duty exemptions. Prices seem cheaper in the UK but they really aren't all that much cheaper when you take relative earnings and tax into account.

    Yes, Ireland has it's rip-off prices but so does the UK and just because something seems cheaper to you when you are living outside the UK tax system, it may not be much cheaper to the person living in the UK.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 3,736 ✭✭✭ch750536


    Had a fun trip the other day.

    Parked my car in reading train station (£13 per day) for 2 days = £26
    Train to liverpool ( return) = £119

    Total = £145

    Similar journey here:

    Car park at Cork station = €1.50
    Cork to Dublin = €71.00

    RIPOFF UK!


  • Registered Users Posts: 517 ✭✭✭greatgoal


    ch750536 wrote: »
    Dont start talking tosh greatgoal.

    Most things double.

    Indeed.

    China is cheap.
    theres only one person talking tosh here and thats yourself.


  • Registered Users Posts: 517 ✭✭✭greatgoal


    r3nu4l wrote: »
    Totally agree with the OP. Another thing to note is that in the UK there's no such thing as mortgage interest relief and first-time buyers don't get grants or stamp duty exemptions. Prices seem cheaper in the UK but they really aren't all that much cheaper when you take relative earnings and tax into account.

    Yes, Ireland has it's rip-off prices but so does the UK and just because something seems cheaper to you when you are living outside the UK tax system, it may not be much cheaper to the person living in the UK.
    what im saying is,ok maybe the UK are ripping off their own,the same as we are being fleeced here,but crossing the border means half price shopping for irish citizens and as long as thats the case theyre going to travel.i couldnt give a toss if the UK are ripping off their own,all im saying is that theyre saving me a lot of money and thousands more like me.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,384 ✭✭✭Highsider


    Are you honestly trying to say that prices in the UK are a rip of compared to here. Sure anyone can find examples of higher prices if you look hard enough but on the whole we are buttfu<ked by retailers in the Republic. Have been for years and even now when they need our business desperately the prices remain high. I will continue to do my monthly shop in the north until retailers down here stop treating us like suckers.


  • Registered Users Posts: 119 ✭✭richardn


    Not only does shopping in the North save our family shed loads of cash but we also help the environment. When we do an 8 or 10 week shop iin the North it means a simple walk to the garage to get the items we require for that evening's meal instead of driving in to town every day so shopping in the North is Green!

    Anyone who beleives they are not being shafted in the South are just one of the reasons prices are so high in the ROI, vote with your feet get up North and watch the prices come down in the South.

    The UK stopped Mortgage Tax Releif about 10-15 years ago so all these things you keep throwing up haven't suddenly appeared.

    An item that cost £1 a year ago in UK is now probably 90p so if that item were sold a year ago in ROI for €1.40 with the exchange rate it should now be €1.11 but it isn't...why not? Of course this only applies to items bought in from UK but when you consider that is a hell of a lot of products someone, possibly not the retailers, but someone somewhere is making some serious cash out of the current exchange rate but not out of me 'cos we'll be going up North again in about 4 weeks time for another 8 week shop.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 7,580 ✭✭✭kingshankly


    ch750536 wrote: »
    Had a fun trip the other day.

    Parked my car in reading train station (£13 per day) for 2 days = £26
    Train to liverpool ( return) = £119

    Total = £145

    Similar journey here:

    Car park at Cork station = €1.50
    Cork to Dublin = €71.00

    RIPOFF UK!
    imposible to compare the two.
    in the uk the railway is privatised and there can be a big difference in prices for the same journey depending on times and which company you use while here our railway is state subsidised


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,736 ✭✭✭ch750536


    what on earth are you people going on about!

    china is much cheaper than both, why is it not a ripoff if you charge more than china for goods?

    Because it is a different country with a different cost base, thats why, just like the UK.

    Keep people in the north in jobs if you like, they need them too. Keep giving the UK govt all your taxes too, they need it.

    But, do not moan if you lose your job & do not moan if services start to be cut back more due to lack of tax coffers.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,736 ✭✭✭ch750536


    Min wage ireland = €8.65 UK = £5.73
    Dole money (fam of 4) Ireland = €320 UK =£121

    If you insist on spending your money & taxes in the UK how about you give the difference back.


  • Registered Users Posts: 17,399 ✭✭✭✭r3nu4l


    Firstly, I don't agree with everything ch750...(the op) has to say.
    greatgoal wrote: »
    what im saying is,ok maybe the UK are ripping off their own,the same as we are being fleeced here,but crossing the border means half price shopping for irish citizens and as long as thats the case theyre going to travel.i couldnt give a toss if the UK are ripping off their own,all im saying is that theyre saving me a lot of money and thousands more like me.
    Yup but the more you give your money to the UK, the more likely it is that jobs in Ireland will go (seriously, this is [very] basic economics). That doesn't bother me because I live in England so I'm happy to have more and more money pumped into the UK economy.
    Highsider wrote: »
    Are you honestly trying to say that prices in the UK are a rip of compared to here.
    No. I'm saying you can't make a direct comparison! I've lived and worked in Ireland and lived and worked in the UK, paying taxes in both countries. Despite the appearances, the cost of living in the UK is far higher than you would think. Eating out is much cheaper in the UK as is drinking alcohol and other things but for example, motor fuel is far more expensive over here than in Ireland, you have it so easy in Ireland fuel-wise. Our tax bands are wider and seem more generous in the UK...until you take the council tax, National Insurance and water rates into account along with numerous other stealth taxes. Our money doesn't go as far, therefore many goods are that bit cheaper. So it makes sense for someone in Ireland to buy up North or in the UK but that does not mean the UK earner has (relatively) cheaper goods or more disposable income!
    Sure anyone can find examples of higher prices if you look hard enough
    You don't have to look hard and it's not just about it being more expensive penny for penny but more about the overall relative costs of living and disposable income.
    but on the whole we are buttfu<ked by retailers in the Republic.
    As we are in the UK. Bottom line, if you're not the one setting the prices, you're the one taking it in the ass.
    Have been for years and even now when they need our business desperately the prices remain high. I will continue to do my monthly shop in the north until retailers down here stop treating us like suckers.
    As I said, I've no problem with that a mate of mine has recently gotten a job in a supermarket in the UK having been laid off months ago from a builders merchant. The more money you spend in supermarkets, the more likely it is my mate keeps his job :) Win-win for the UK, pity the poor chump in Super-Valu in Ireland who will be drawing the dole as a result of the money spent in the UK.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 677 ✭✭✭darc


    When the landlords of the shopping centres drop their rents, retailers can drop their prices.

    Example - Main mall unit in Liffey Valley. Size 2200sq ft (average store). Rent = €420,000, rates = €45,000, Service charges = €35,000. Total = €500,000. About £440,000

    Lakeside Thurrock in Essex - higher footfall than Liffey Valley. Rent for 2,358 sq ft on main mall, ground floor (prime space) £220,000. Rates £17,000, Services, £11,000. Total = £248,000.

    Landlords, reduce your rents. Retailers can then reduce their prices, shoppers will spend their money, more people will be employed in retail.


  • Registered Users Posts: 17,399 ✭✭✭✭r3nu4l


    While I agree with you to a huge extent darc I do have to raise a point. Lakeside may have a higher footfall than Liffey Valley but the population in the catchment area is at least 12 times higher than that for Liffey Valley AND Lakeside has an IKEA as an added draw for footfall. Rates are so low in Lakeside because Bluewater is only a few miles away across the dartford tunnel and is a far, far superior shopping centre. Lakeside rates need to be lower. Lakeside = Chav shopping; Bluewater = Quality shopping

    Therefore, competition* (as always) is the answer.


    *real competition, not the cosy brown envelope relationships between government/retailers/developers that exist in Ireland!


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,736 ✭✭✭ch750536


    Purely for giggle factor, in Twyford station just now I bought a bag of crisps.

    95p

    Ripoff UK!


  • Registered Users Posts: 21 seamus789


    ch750536 wrote: »
    Min wage ireland = €8.65 UK = £5.73


    Examples like this are not valid. When the €1 was worth £0.67 then the minimum wage was almost identical. The current exchange rate is an anomaly and will not be sustained over the long term (3-5 years). What do you expect?, governments to change minimum wage and taxes regularly based on currency?

    I don't support widespread shopping in the UK, but I can understand why people would do it while the currency is as it is. I would rather see someone go to Asda in Strabane and buy a bottle of Pepsi that was made in Dublin than go to Lidl in Dublin and buy a bottle of Pepsi that was made in eastern Germany.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,736 ✭✭✭ch750536


    seamus789 wrote: »
    Examples like this are not valid. When the €1 was worth £0.67 then the minimum wage was almost identical. The current exchange rate is an anomaly and will not be sustained over the long term (3-5 years).

    Its valid enough for the hundreds of people here complaining about 'Its £10 in the UK and €15 here, Ripoff Ireland'

    Can't have it both ways.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,736 ✭✭✭ch750536


    seamus789 wrote: »
    ....but I can understand why people would do it while the currency is as it is.

    I can too, greed. Care about me and not my neighbour.

    I can understand it, I just disagree with it.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 32,382 ✭✭✭✭rubadub


    richardn wrote: »
    Not only does shopping in the North save our family shed loads of cash but we also help the environment. When we do an 8 or 10 week shop iin the North it means a simple walk to the garage to get the items we require for that evening's meal instead of driving in to town every day so shopping in the North is Green!
    Dunno if that is a joke or truely the most fu*ked up logic I ever heard in my life. If you did your 8-10 week shop in the local store it would be greener, as you would not have had to drive to far...

    richardn wrote: »
    with your feet get up North and watch the prices come down in the South.
    darc wrote: »
    When the landlords of the shopping centres drop their rents, retailers can drop their prices.
    If some retailers here sold their stuff at cost they could not match UK retailers who are making a decent margin. ONCE AGAIN you are ignoring the fact that distributors & manufacturers have huge control over prices.

    Stores here will just have to close down and find some other trade, it is not viable to sell certain goods anymore. I have been buying stuff via the internet for over 10 years now, its nothing new to shop online or abroad. It is ridiculous to expect people to support uncompetitive non-viable businesses. Sometimes the state steps in to ensure this ridiculous situation is forced upon consumers, like farmers being subsidised to grow overpriced sugar beet, which was lower quality and more expensive than the imported cane sugar. Now plenty of fruit & veg is imported, if the gov stepped in and forced you to buy only Irish mangoes then they would also cost a fortune and keep people in farming, but it is stupid to do so. The ESB had powerplants running which needed more power input than they outputted, just to keep the boys in jobs, unviable nonsensical crap.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 677 ✭✭✭darc


    r3nu4l wrote: »
    Rates are so low in Lakeside because Bluewater is only a few miles away across the dartford tunnel and is a far, far superior shopping centre. Lakeside rates need to be lower. Lakeside = Chav shopping; Bluewater = Quality shopping !


    Dundrum & Blanch & Swords & City Centre are all even closer to Liffey Valley than Bluewater is to Lakeside.

    Rental rates in Bluewater are approx. 15% higher than Lakeside according to Savills - still hugely cheaper in today's currency value.

    But on currency, sterling is expected to move back to .76 - .80 over the next few months. - Maybe then this rip off harking will end especially after the already pre-warned large duty increases in cigs, fuel & drink in the upcoming UK budget.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,432 ✭✭✭mcwhirter


    ch750536 wrote: »
    http://listentotaxman.com/index.php?c=1&yr=2008&married=1&age=0&add=0&code=&pension=0&time=1&ingr=30000&vw[]=yr

    http://www.taxcalc.eu/

    Some examples:
    Married couple earning £30,000 equivalent each.
    UK Pays £12,000 more tax.
    Single person earning £20,000 equivalent
    UK Pays £2800 more tax

    Also, water rates & council tax (£2000 per year per household)

    Credit for health insurance that you have to pay in Ireland (gives a far better service than the NHS in the UK).

    The UK taxes based on what you earn, Ireland taxes based on what you spend.

    Take this in to consideration before you post another 'look at the price of this in the UK' thread.
    :cool:

    A few things need to be mentioned here.
    For instance, nobody has mentioned VRT, house stamp duty rates, car tax rates, drugs costs, doctor charges.

    I have lived in UK on similar earnings to here and I felt a lot better off there, even with paying council tax and water rates.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,736 ✭✭✭ch750536


    mcwhirter wrote: »
    A few things need to be mentioned here.
    For instance, nobody has mentioned VRT, house stamp duty rates, car tax rates, drugs costs, doctor charges.

    I have lived in UK on similar earnings to here and I felt a lot better off there, even with paying council tax and water rates.

    You only buy a car once, not really applicable to an everyday cost example, same for stamp duty.

    Car tax, depends on the size of the engine, €100 a year difference is nothing.

    Drugs, depends on who you know.;)

    Doctors charges, I pay here but I get a million times better service, to be fair if I were back in the UK I would rather pay and get the good service. Can't really compare like for like but I see what you mean.


  • Registered Users Posts: 17,399 ✭✭✭✭r3nu4l


    A report says today that Britain has the most expensive train services in Europe.

    My daily 50 mile commute by train 3 years ago cost me £3600 for the year. The same journey today would cost me £4500 for the year. You might think that British trains have a good service. I was delayed by 30 mins or more at least 3 times a week on that line. I also had to stand every evening for 45 minutes before I eventually got a seat for the last 30 minutes of my journey.

    It's swings and roundabouts people. Having lived in England for 5 years and having lived in Ireland at the height of the rip-off Ireland debate I can safely say I don't see much difference at all.

    We eat out and drink cheaper but we pay a lot more stealth taxes, higher fuel duty and we pay more for our water and government services. So cheaper cars and tax mean very little when every litre of fuel you add is costing you more.

    EDIT: Another thing about rip-off UK is that it's difficult to avoid the rip-offs, for example fuel duty and train ticket prices.

    In Ireland it's easier to avoid rip-off pub prices for example. Instead of paying €10 to get into a 'trendy' bar on a Saturday, go to a regular pub with friends. Instead of drinking a pint and whinging about how much it cost you, simply go somewhere else! I really admire the way British people will look at the price of something and say 'I'm not paying that, it's cheaper down the road', whereas in Ireland's CT years and even now to some extent, it's almost like a status symbol to say you paid over the odds for your beer, dinner, clothes etc. Until that attitude changes there will always be rip-offs.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,432 ✭✭✭mcwhirter


    I find that general costs are much higher in the south of britain compared to north, and scotland.

    I have lived in southern england, noerthen england and scotland, and general costa are far lower than here(except fuel).

    In ireland, the costs seem to be the same no matter where you are, it seems the prices are fixed.

    As for buying cars, not many people buy one car for life, every car they buy has had vrt added, plus no one pays car tax in uk that is anywhere near 2000 euros a year.
    I like to have a choice in what I can buy, I don't need a government telling me what they think I should buy/afford.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,736 ✭✭✭ch750536


    mcwhirter wrote: »
    I find that general costs are much higher in the south of britain compared to north, and scotland.
    There is a much bigger City vs Rural price difference in the UK, rural is very expensive.
    mcwhirter wrote: »
    As for buying cars, not many people buy one car for life, every car they buy has had vrt added,
    Yes but its not an everyday costs, its a oneoff.
    mcwhirter wrote: »
    plus no one pays car tax in uk that is anywhere near 2000 euros a year.
    No-one pays car tax in Ireland anywhere near €2000 a year.
    My car is £97 per year less in the UK, nothing in the grand scheme of things. If you can afford a car that falls into the €2k bracket, frankly, what are you moaning for.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 42 foxfordbuild


    Where do the UK retailers in Ireland pay their corporation tax ? UK or Ireland

    I am sure I have read that Tescos \ Dixons Group and the Debenhams group record substantially larger profits in Ireland compared to their UK stores despite the higher costs incurred here.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,432 ✭✭✭mcwhirter


    ch750536 wrote: »
    There is a much bigger City vs Rural price difference in the UK, rural is very expensive.

    Yes but its not an everyday costs, its a oneoff.

    No-one pays car tax in Ireland anywhere near €2000 a year.
    My car is £97 per year less in the UK, nothing in the grand scheme of things. If you can afford a car that falls into the €2k bracket, frankly, what are you moaning for.



    Well sorry to differ, but some people are paying 2000 euros a year.

    Band A: cars that produce 0-120g/km CO2 - €100 road tax;
    Band B: cars that produce 121g - 140g/km CO2 - €150 road tax;
    Band C: cars that produce 141g-155g/km CO2 - €290 road tax;
    Band D: cars that produce 156g-170g/km CO2 - €430 road tax;
    Band E: cars that produce 171g-190g/km CO2 - €600 road tax;
    Band F: cars that produce 191g-225g/km CO2 - €1,000 road tax;
    Band G: cars that produce 226g/km CO2 and over - €2,000 road tax

    As I said previously we should be able to choose the vehicle we want. When these large engine cars become older and cheap to buy for the regular person out there, no one will buy them as the car tax is too high.

    It is okay when they are new as only the wealthy can afford them but a different matter when they are about 5-10 years old.


    How is the vrt a oneoff, it is on every car you buy, every time?

    I can't believe you actually agree with the vrt? I am astounded.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 3,736 ✭✭✭ch750536


    73176.jpg
    Source

    €2000?

    Lets not feed the troll eh


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