Government Vouchers for "Covid Hit" Industries

[steve_holmes_11]

Economic policy
Sunak considers £500 vouchers for all UK adults to spend in Covid-hit firms

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jul/05/sunak-considers-500-vouchers-for-all-uk-adults-to-spend-in-covid-hit-firms

Initial indications suggest this will target Hospitality and face to face retail.

At £500 per adult and £250 per child, I'd happily drive down to Middlesborough, if a click and collect type service could be arranged.

[ianrs54]

Heard it yesterday on BH, nice idea, probably use for a few toys !

[FierceKitty]

I have British ancestors; I'll be ready to do my bit to help, if they want to send me one of those vouchers....

[ianrs54]

That would be 500 Baht though

[Techno]

That's my haircuts sorted out .............Forever, really.

Cheers - Mr Scruffy.

[ianrs54]

Phil - easy sorted, razor and gone.

[Leon]

That's interesting, I'd not heard about that.  Hopefully folks can spend that in places like pubs, restaurants, etc and get those businesses back on an even footing.

[Orcs]

That's interesting, I'd not heard about that.  Hopefully folks can spend that in places like pubs, restaurants, etc and get those businesses back on an even footing.

Not sure I am quite ready to go to a Pub yet

Apparently one of the pubs near me the Black Horse in Tring ,had a covid inspector came around and wasn't impressed. No one was paying any attention to the one way system but more importantly there was 160 people in there.

Its not a very big pub and mainly frequented by they younger generation

[Dave Fielder]

£500.00 = 17.05 Pendraken Army Packs!! I need another lockdown to sort out that much painting ....

[steve_holmes_11]

£500.00 = 17.05 Pendraken Army Packs!! I need another lockdown to sort out that much painting ....

I could do the whole Indian Ocean in Irregular Wars.

[flamingpig0]

If it applies to all high street shops I am going to buy shares in Games Workshop/Warhammer

[Orcs]

Sorry to pour cold water on this, but I am not so sure Its a good idea.

Personally I feel the government would be better off using it to subsidise the expenses of the businesses that are having real problems - Music venues, restaurants, Pubs etc, rather than giving people vouchers or even worse actual money to spend.

Those who are better off will probably use it as a subsidy on going out and save their own money. Not spending much more than they do normally. Thus negating its effects.

A good proportion of the others are likely to blow it very quickly and end up causing all sorts of problems - lack of social distancing, drunk and disorderly etc. etc.  While this might help the businesses they spend the money in the increase in cost to the economy in visits to A & E and police intervention is going to offset the boost to the economy.




 

[Ithoriel]

A £500 voucher to spend in bricks and mortar establishments .... I'll be happy to save the Treasury five hundred quid and shred it on arrival. Don't see me visiting shops, cinemas, restaurants or pubs for a long time to come.

[FierceKitty]

The last few months have been something of a boom period for restaurants here; far more orders for home delivery.

[Leon]

I'm with Orcs that I won't be going into a pub for a very long time (although I wasn't exactly a regular pre-Covid!)  But we'd use it on some takeaway pub grub from some of the ones delivering, maybe give some of it to friends who are in bands and can't play gigs, etc. 

Overall the government stimulus has been pretty good, all things considered.  Giving support to the ground level businesses is always the best option as you'll see that money recouped in a much quicker timescale.  We've used ours to buy raw materials, invest in more sculpts and pay staff wages.  I'd imagine that most of the other support has been spent on similar things, or equipment and machinery if they're larger firms.  Staff will then use their wages to buy food, mortgage/rent, clothes, gadgets, toy soldiers, etc.  All of these things incur either VAT or income taxes which the treasury will receive at stages over the next 24 months and the initial economic impact will be reduced over a short space of time. 

Sadly when you give handouts to the big corporations they will inevitably use it to either ringfence profits, invest in property portfolios or hand it off to a small group of shareholders. And as we all know, many of them will push money through low-tax loopholes to save themselves from corporation tax.  So the initial support money gets siphoned off in a variety of ways and doesn't make its way back through the taxation system to refill the government coffers.