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Edit: Holy crap, so I based my initial comment on how EU Internet friends always complain about how much their iPhone or PlayStation is, so I incorrectly assumed VAT was only for foreign products to encourage purchase of domestic. No, VAT is just a fancy way of saying "sales tax" that is really high and charged everywhere. Strikethrough edits below, but leaving original text.
So the EU, UK, and others have charged VAT for years on ~~foreign~~ goods, including US goods. This is a tax on ~~foreign~~ goods that can add hundreds of dollars/pounds/euros/etc. to the purchase of an American iPhone (made in China or India) for example.
This whole tariff thing is dumber than something a third grader could come up with...~~but...these countries were already doing it themselves to others. So they should politely STFU, as they are hypocrites.~~
I get having high income taxes to provide for socialized medicine and such, that's awesome, but also a sales tax that is a quarter of the price of a thing or service, taxed just because? Even if it wasn't made by the nation's citizens? Even if it was?
I'm sure it keeps EUians and UKians from going full Capitalism, but wow, especially given how much infrastructure degrades despite the funding, I recall seeing Germany cutting train routes all over across the country and small towns being cut off from them some years back and flabbergasted, knowing their high taxes go to government things...but also sales tax on top of that? 🤯
What really sucks, is they'll likely stay quiet about this, and join a tariff war anyways, and tack tariffs on top of VAT and their citizens will just be double-taxed. Why do UK-ians and EU-ians put up with this nonsense?
It gets wackier too, from the EU VAT rules site (emphasis mine):
List of items charged VAT (non-exhaustive):
Electronics (phones, computers, TVs)
Clothing and footwear
Furniture and household items
Cars and motorbikes
Fuel and energy (electricity, gas)
Food and beverages (standard or reduced rate depending on country)
Alcohol and tobacco
Hotel stays and accommodation
Restaurant meals
Telecom and digital services
Books, newspapers, and magazines (often at reduced or zero rate)
Transport services (like air or rail tickets, depending on country)
VAT Rates by country (also non-exhaustive):
Austria: 20%
Belgium: 21%
Bulgaria: 20%
Croatia: 25%
Cyprus: 19%
Czech Republic: 21%
Denmark: 25%
Estonia: 22%
Finland: 25.5%
France: 20%
Germany: 19%
Greece: 24%
Hungary: 27%
Ireland: 23%
Italy: 22%
Latvia: 21%
Lithuania: 21%
Luxembourg: 17%
Malta: 18%
Netherlands: 21%
Poland: 23%
Portugal: 23%
Romania: 19%
Slovakia: 23%
Slovenia: 22%
Spain: 21%
Sweden: 25%
Sources:
https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/quick-charts/value-added-tax-vat-rates
https://europa.eu/youreurope/business/taxation/vat/vat-rules-rates/index_en.htm
https://www.globalvatcompliance.com/globalvatnews/world-countries-vat-rates-2020/
https://www.avalara.com/vatlive/en/vat-rates/european-vat-rates.html`___`
VAT is only a tax on foreign goods insofar as it is a tax on ALL goods irrespective of origin. So it's not hypocritical as it is a very different thing.
Yep, learned that! Still mind-blowing how crippling it is.
Most of the world - other than a few places (US included) - switched to VAT ages ago. It's a more efficient system. It's not the same as "sales tax". It's literary a "value added tax" and every purchase and sale includes it - even for materials and half products.
The idea here is that you pay a tax on the amount of value you add in the chain. VAT is an indirect tax, because the consumer who ultimately bears the burden of the tax is not the entity that pays it.
It's also much more transparent, as it must be included in the quoted price. Not like the US, where you see an item on the self for $5.00 and then the total at the register is $9.54 because it now has sales, city, state, and federal tax.
Check the Wikipedia article as well: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value-added_tax
It's a tax on every stage of the process, nobody "switched to it". All for the government, that didn't contribute to the process. That doesn't make a train stop at my mom's home town anymore even though their country is smaller than my state but has all the tax money. Including price in price is nothing. The SIZE is the important part. I balked at 9% sales tax in my state, used to be 6%. Yours is amplified 20% times 5. Design, execution, physical build, assembly, final product. That's crazy.
And why ever say "we switched to VAT". It's just a name. Tax, VAT, Tariff. All words. You're probably a bot anyway.
This shows deep misunderstanding in what VAT is and how it works. It's not "a flat out 20% sales tax with a different name". The concept is different. But I do not have neither time or energy to argue on the internet.
Because we used to have sales tax.
Gee. Thanks?
That's not how VAT works. As a business you pay VAT as an input tax. You can deduct that from your VAT liability at point of sale. The business is liable to pay VAT on the sale to the end consumer but can (and does) recharge it to the customer. Not a tax expert at all, so I might be off a bit - but I am sure that you don't pay full VAT on every R&D, production, sale step along the process.