We need a 200% tax!

SLITHER99

Ok, don't glurp on your hot chocolate just yet, hear me out.

One of the biggest things that this country needs is its manufacturing back. It provides jobs on almost every level from high end designers/engineers through to bread and butter assmebly line workers. So how can we get companies to start innovating here?

Simple, create the market.

It would have to be phased in, but eventually every commodity built outside the UK should have 200% tax. You want a German car? That's cool, 200% tax! You want a Japanese TV? That's cool, 200% tax.

This will create a demand for Made In Britain. No 200% tax on that, directly supporting a British workforce and even *shudder* the possiblilty of exporting goods again?

Generali

Google 'Riccardo' or 'gains from trade' to see why this is a terrible idea.

1984ReturnsForReal_2

SLITHER99 wrote: »

Ok, don't glurp on your hot chocolate just yet, hear me out.

One of the biggest things that this country needs is its manufacturing back. It provides jobs on almost every level from high end designers/engineers through to bread and butter assmebly line workers. So how can we get companies to start innovating here?

Simple, create the market.

It would have to be phased in, but eventually every commodity built outside the UK should have 200% tax. You want a German car? That's cool, 200% tax! You want a Japanese TV? That's cool, 200% tax.

This will create a demand for Made In Britain. No 200% tax on that, directly supporting a British workforce and even *shudder* the possiblilty of exporting goods again?

Or alternatively people can just buy British where they can for a few years.

Mr_Mumble

This will create a demand for Made In Britain. No 200% tax on that, directly supporting a British workforce and even *shudder* the possiblilty of exporting goods again?

80% of British car manufacture is currently exported, what would happen to the workers in Derby, Swindon and Sunderland when the inevitable 200% tax is placed on British goods by every other country on the planet?

One of the biggest things that this country needs is its manufacturing back.

Why?...

Generali, it's David Ricardo (one "c")!

1984ReturnsForReal_2

Mr_Mumble wrote: »

80% of British car manufacture is currently exported

Just for my own personal interest, do you know how many cars put on the road in Britain in the last 5 years are imports & how many were actually made in Britain?

I have no idea by the way.

Mr_Mumble

Last 5 years, gosh, no! But the SMMT website probably has all the info if you wish to research it yourself (under automotive information). For January to November 2009:

Vehicle Production
Total 997,525
Export 756,892
Home 240,633

Vehicle Registrations
Total 1,844,063

julieq

Also worth noting that a great deal of our manufacturing industry sells to foreign companies who integrate the parts and products into goods we import. We also buy components from foreign suppliers.

It's one of the great myths that we don't manufacture. We do less heavy industry, but the manufacturing sector in the broad sense - combining components and adding value - is present and active. You won't find many people working in the manufacturing sector - I'm one incidentally - with any level of enthusiasm for protectionist measures.

Another of life's amusing ironies incidentally is that what protectionism exists comes from the EU, given that most protectionism advocates tend to be anti Europe too. We tend to be much more in favour of free trade, because of the benefits we see from it.

purch

even *shudder* the possiblilty of exporting goods again?

Yes, cos every other country in the World would happily allow us to export to them while at the same time we were slapping a 200% Tax on their exports.

Brilliant :T

Forumonics at it's finest :rolleyes:

Radiantsoul

What about the parts that make up this mythical British car(as an example). Would they also be punitively taxed?

nollag2006

Will we also tax oil and energy in the same manner? How do you think the UK consumer will react to a trebling of petrol and home heating costs?

Didn't we try this sort of failed protectionism nonsense in the Thirties?

kabayiri

I thanked the OP because it's an idea, an attempt to think of ways forward.

Personally, I don't believe in overt protectionism like this, but we all know that a degree of self protection is inherent in every country.

It would be unfair to jump on the OP too much though. Sometimes you have to consider the sentiment behind an idea. Give people a bit of breathing space to express ideas I say.

Long term, I believe we have to move away from the current level of consumerism to sustainable products. The technology is certainly there. It's a matter of pushing the consumer in the right direction.

I would argue that a more expensive, but more repairable and modular, consumer good such as hifi or tv would end up having a longer life, lower CO2 costs overall, and bring much needed local service and upgrade work to the local economy.

In a similar fashion, one of the common misconceptions about Open Source software was that it was 'free'. The total cost of using such software was never free. The idea was to commodotise and hence take value out of the core software components, and allow additional 'value' to be delivered in the local market, through customisation and support, all of which would be paid for.

Apologies for a tangential post (oops!), but I think there are many ways we can bring additional revenue (and work) back to the local economy.