Sponger sponging
The UK government's scheme to get more people eating in restaurants during August has not been an unqualified success. Some hospitaliers have complained about abuse towards staff; that the influx of custom is focussed between Monday and Wednesday, when the scheme is in effect, leaving the weekends quiet; and that support would have made more impact during the off-season period, when it's more needed.
But customers have benefitted from the scheme, having their meals subsidised by the taxpayer
. Daniel Davis-Luke has saved £218, eating mainly at independent outlets, but is sanguine about the fact that We are going to pay for it ourselves on our tax anyway…Everyone knows there's a big tax bill around the corner. We are going to pay it back over the long run.
Good for him, at least he's realistic.
Danielle Hughes is making the most of it, and estimates that she's saved £150. Danielle is a student, training to be a religious education teacher. So she doesn't pay tax now, and as a fully-trained religious education teacher she's unlikely to be faced with a serious tax bill in her entire life. No wonder that I'd love to see it extended or for it to happen again…I'm not going to go out at all in September. In September I will be eating at home probably for the whole month
!
I wonder what other fiscal miracles quick fixes UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak has in store?