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Post by lisydaly on Feb 27, 2010 18:37:05 GMT 2
I read on another site and have also been told by friends living in Corfu (Greek) that next week there is going to be an announcement by the Government that fuel prices are to rise and VAT is to go up by 2%. This doesn't sound much - but if it happens it will affect all of us who holiday in Greece, and also the local people in Corfu who are going to have to charge more. It might be worth budgeting for a slightly more expensive holiday than thought. This is because of the huge debts Greece has - and I think, and I am sorry to say it, that it can't be ignored.
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Post by artisans on Feb 27, 2010 19:39:23 GMT 2
Hi lisydaly, prices of fuel rose in Corfu just over a week ago. BP in Roda tonight was charging roughly £1.18 (GBP) per litre of unleaded. VAT is possibly set to rise and the 2 percentage points you mention are equivalent to a 1.05% increase above the current maximum rate of 19%. To put this into context, the recent rise in the UK was 2.5 percentage points, equivalent to a 1.67% increase. I believe that the current rate in the Republic of Ireland is 21% which will bring Greece into line with the Republic. Every European country needs to charge roughly the same amount to remain members of the club! Greece's measures will mean an increase of 2/10 of one percent to the retail prices of goods attracting the full rate - something costing 84 euros plus VAT (100 euros), now costing 101.64 euros and something costing 10 euros will be 16 cents more expensive.
The EU has caused many Greek prices to rise over recent years, but we still know many restaurant owners, like Kostas at Roda Park, who have absorbed the increases themselves. Since we first met you in Roda in 2002, Kostas has only increased his prices by roughly 50 cents per main course. Most other business do the same wherever possible. This practice, of course, cannot continue indefinitely, but rest assured that the business owners are sensitive to the situation and they do not usually take advantage. This is unlike the reports that the equivalent businesses in Turkey will increase prices by 40% in 2010, just because they had a good year in 2009. That does not happen here.
As for the debt situation, I understand that Mr Papandreou was interviewed on the UK Andrew Marr show recently and said that Greece would not borrow more money to pay off current debts - unlike the UK whose situation is now reported to be worse than that of Greece. Will Greece be the first country to opt out of the Eurozone? There has been some speculation.
With costs rising everywhere, I think it is fair to say that Corfu will continue to offer good value for money - relatively speaking. The cost of a holiday 20 years ago was not much different than it is today.
Steve
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kaz
Roda Anorak
Posts: 3,961
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Post by kaz on Feb 27, 2010 20:43:49 GMT 2
It won't keep us away!!!!!!!!!!!!......Kaz
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Post by lisydaly on Feb 28, 2010 11:01:15 GMT 2
For the time being it won't keep us away either - but we have to factor in the ever increasing costs of getting from here to the UK before going on to Greece. As Ireland is in a worse state than Russia at the moment I won't be holding my breath for Michael O'Leary to get air taxes scrapped and the charges we have to pay to actually leave the country are a bad joke. Still, I love living here so put up with the bad stuff - like more snow today and it's still falling. Sorry Julie/Steve - I do have a recollection of meeting you in 2002 but April/May/June of that year are a blur - we sold our house within a week of advertising and were negotiating a purchase in France as well as trying to pack everything up, find a removal company, get the dogs pass-ported etc. We left in June and we were both exhausted. After five leaving do's - don't ask - in Roda and Acharavi and Nymfes and a drive across Europe with the dog in tow, we were also a bit worse for wear! The first clear memory I have is being in Normandy and getting bombarded by fireworks on Bastille night and wondering what the hell was going on. Wouldn't change things though - and now we can enjoy Corfu, enjoy France and come home to enjoy living in the land of forty shades of green.
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Post by sthelenssaint on Feb 28, 2010 12:13:19 GMT 2
or me .....on one of the points you raise steve i know spiris harbour has not increased his beer prices since 2000.. john
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Feb 28, 2010 14:59:05 GMT 2
I would say an increase in VAT would not neccesarily be an increase in the cost to the consumer. What ever the VAT is, that has to be paid to the government. Therefore the bar owner or restaurant owner will only add on the VAT thus still retaining what he was receiving before. At sometime though I can see a smaller increase if the VAT keeps rising, as custome is lost due to the tax increases, the seller will have to increase to compensate.
Regarding what the Greek Prime Minister said, he also said that Greece would not be coming out of the Eurozone. UK is not in the Eurozone, and look at our debt.
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Post by artisans on Feb 28, 2010 17:22:45 GMT 2
Thinking again about the tax situation, VAT is, in reality, a tax on profits. The business pays VAT to its suppliers, and collects VAT from its customers - the difference between the two being paid to the government. If the business is less profitable, it pays less tax. As margins are eroded, who knows how much the government will retrieve from these measures.
Steve
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Post by chrissey on Feb 28, 2010 18:30:32 GMT 2
wont stop us going only same as hope everything going up just have to put up with it
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Post by aussiepair on Mar 1, 2010 19:42:13 GMT 2
John and I have budgeted every year for a little more spending money expecting prices to go up. We have wondered how prices have remained the same. Businesses cannot continually absorb increases to keep prices to what return guests remember. This year we will be bringing more money probably, if we take some home all the better and we will enjoy ourselves as much as we as we always do, go on trips, eat out and hire a car. Prices go up here and we wear it so why would people expect Roda never to put their prices up. Bev
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