And it's not pro-rata. Pretty stupid really. There's no point in selling your house for a small amount above 250k.Didn't Darling increase that figure in the budget? Maybe not.... For US readers - I'm not being over affectionate - our Chancellor (for a few weeks more, at least) is called Alistair Darling :-) Oops -this is probably steered well off topic. Although if anyone wishes to do a joint UK/US pressure group called 'Ban the penny' we could start here ;-)
From: [email protected] To: [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: RE: [USMA:47194] RE: Decimal currency & Metrication Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2010 19:57:05 +0100 A typical house price in the UK is £249,950 - there is a tax hike at £250,000. From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Stephen Humphreys Sent: 20 April 2010 12:26 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:47194] RE: Decimal currency & Metrication When we got rid of the pound note many years ago (except Scotland/NI) I remember no backlash or complaints at all. It just happened, we were happy, and the story ended! I honestly cannot remember people resisting it. Having said that - we still have the daft pricing you talk about - ie £19.99, 99p, etc. Even mad stuff like £4999.95 - like no-one is going to call that "five grand". From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: [USMA:47191] RE: Decimal currency & Metrication Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2010 19:26:15 -0700 The main resistance to the dollar coin in the US is that no one wants to carry a big pocket full of change around. Replacing the dollar bill with a coin makes sense, but only if you get rid of the penny at the same time. That would require rounding up or down on some items. Unfortunately many Americans are paranoid about losing a cent or two if merchants round up more often than they round down. But what is even crazier, in the US everything is priced at $ 2.99, $11.95 and even $99.99, and the real price is usually five to eight percent higher, depending on taxes, so the real price might be $3.23, $12.91 and $107.99 (which includes rounding, by the way). In many countries the price of a hamburger is listed as $3 and really is $3, not listed as $2.99 and really costing $3.23. That is what results in a pocket full of annoying change, and a dollar coin will make it worse. >From personal experience in New Zealand, there are no pennies and you almost never see a 5 or 10 cent coin. They have $1 and $2 coins, but because almost all prices are "round" you still have less change in your pocket than you do in the US. Until merchants in the US are forced to become honest and post the real price (and stop playing the silly game of ninety-nine cents) and Americans stop being afraid of paying an extra penny or two once in a while, the penny will not go away and the dollar coin will remain a nuisance. Alan Lawrence The New Busy think 9 to 5 is a cute idea. Combine multiple calendars with Hotmail. Get busy. Get a free e-mail account with Hotmail. Sign-up now. _________________________________________________________________ http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/195013117/direct/01/ We want to hear all your funny, exciting and crazy Hotmail stories. Tell us now
