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It probably does mean that - missed that part.

Appears to be a little over £23/hr. Nice work if you can get it.

^^ This You aren't going to learn much about computers using an Ipood.

Sounds about right to me too. I can think of a family member in similar circumstances (3 bedroom house, not 4), and the figures are about the same.

No, I'm not. That's why I said gross profit and not net profit.

I wouldn't expect them to. The same example you're using can be used to argue precisely the opposite from your current position.

As I said a day or two ago, lets revisit this in 18 months. I don't agree.

Yes, I do (corporately), but the money ultimately comes from the consumer. If the consumer is a business, their consumption is paid for by building it into their cost of sales but eventually, if you trace the money, it all ends up with you. This affects the price they charge and is part of the price you eventually pay for the widget that you buy, or the service you avail yourself of at the doctor. My situation is a little more complex, but ultimately it's paid for by the tax payer on the street. I mainly supply companies that supply the public sector, so perversely part of the tax that I pay could be stated to be coming back to me via a school, then my customer to me. Clearly my pissant donation of CT would not be significant enough to cover my invoice, so the remainder comes from a combination of taxes paid (both CT, IT and other taxes, both direct and indirect). IT can't be reasonably considered to be paid for by anyone other than the man on the street. Any indirect taxes and corporation taxes paid for by companies have that amount built into any invoices raised. Clearly a circle jerk of taxes is never going to pay anything so it has to be paid somewhere and the only point it can be is at final consumption. It's a pretty simple concept and fairly well understood. The correct position is 0% CT which would result in lower prices. It's fairly straightforward to understand that an increase or decrease in VAT affects the price that the man on street pays and that's why I struggle to see why intelligent people have difficulty make the same observation when it comes to CT. Taxation cost, just like housing/property cost pervades everything that costs in life and it only gets paid at final consumption.

If you're of the opinion that companies pay corporation tax, you're very much mistaken, and beyond help. I have to say I paid little attention to the article and didn't read too much of any of it, so you may be correct on the other part of it but it's irrelevant, companies do not pay corporation tax; it's built into the price you pay.

I think you're right. I don't frequent Wetherspoons as the local one looks a but scabby to me, but the prices seem very good. I do frequent Crown Carveries though; £3.99 a head (don't buy drinks there though as they push the price right up, and I am impressively tight). I presume Wetherspoon fish and chips is from frozen, which isn't necessarily a problem, but is it acceptable? I might give them a go if so. I dunno - ambivalent I guess. Having done it professionally I can conclude that it's definitely work, but I guess it's whether you see it as a chore. I don't, I enjoy feeding my family, but there are others that don't and if you see it as a bind that's probably when tempers get frayed. There are instances that annoy me about it though even though I don't consider it a chore. For instances would be, turning up ten minutes before the meal and leaving 10 minutes after (some hyperbole there, but we've certainly had a ten minute window at one side of the meal before). Or ringing shortly before the carnage is due to start and asking if you can come later. Being tight (bringing one bottle of wine when you've volunteered to provide the drinks and there are 6 adults and £80 of food on the table). None of those above are singularly hanging offences , but when you see it happening consistently it does grate after a while, and then you don't do it any more. I do get annoyed with my own kids when they bitch about clearing the table when I've spent two days of preparation brining and crowning a turkey, stuffing the legs etc, but then I remind myself that they are young and that the bitching subsides over time.

As usual, no story here: It's really a drop in the ocean though isn't it anyway. How much does it cost to administer? In any case it doesn't matter one iota that the tax take from companies has reduced because the tax take from individuals has increased. It's an entirely normal state of affairs. Companies do not pay tax, people do (where do you think the funds to clear the CT tax bill come from). CT should be abolished completely. It raises very little money, is pain to administer both in government and in companies and ultimately is paid for by consumers anyway. Just pass that burden to consumers legally and in name, it already is anyway you just don't see it separated out on your receipt. Edit to add: http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/the_great_british_taxpayer_ripoff.pdf

This is precisely the point of the article, that the supermarkets have "an unfair subsidy", and you make their point quite nicely for them. Just as well you added that bit

I would have said that was an oxymoron. I presume you're just cooking for one, and I can see some sense in your approach in that case. It would be better and cheaper though to batch off some of your own and freeze for future consumption. Gross profit for any catering operation is likely to be around 65-75% in any case. I was puzzling over the price of fish and chips the other day. I don't really buy them anymore since I can't find a reliable chippy, but I made some at home (using haddock) made my own chips, curry sauce and mushy peas. The kids had battered sausage and chips. fish - £2.39 sausages - £0.50 (72% meat content) batter £0.10 peas £0.10 curry sauce for four £0.20 total cost (excluding opportunity cost, fuel etc) - £3.29 Might have missed some costs, not being too careful and I reckon the batter and curry costs are over. I I would think this would be something like: fish - £7 sausages x 4 - £3.60 peas x 2 - £1 curry sauce £1.10 chips x 3 £4.80 total £17.50 of that 20% is VAT so £14.58 sale price, so gross profit of 77% I did use an online chippy to cost it up, and they're a bit cheaper than my local. It's also based on *my* costs too, they'll get them cheaper. I did forget the chips on my cost too but it wouldn't make much of a difference. I do think they're taking the pi55 a bit. I know it's not really a cheap food anymore but still.

Very much so. The way their calculations are constructed it's darned near impossible to come up with an accurate % profit. You could make a fair guess though if you could be bothered, but I won't since I believe the point of the article is to illustrate how little they actually make compared to the government take. From the facts they give you, you could only guess at the direct cost of sales (ie the cost of the goods before their markup), but without that you're just pi55ing in the wind.

Profits are calculated based on receipts less cost of sales without including VAT, so no it doesn't, but it doesn't alter the main point of the article which is that 9.09% of the price you pay at Wetherspoons over and above the cost of sales actually goes to Wetherspoons. It's more likely that most pricing in that field would reduce by around 10-15% or so in the same way that utilities pass an increase directly on but are reluctant to pass the full amount of a reduction back (though they normally pass some). Since it's never going to happen though we'll never know.