- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.world
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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.
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.
I balled at 9% sales tax… Yours is amplified 20%, times 5… It’s just a name.
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.
And why ever day "we switched to VAT’
Because we used to have sales tax.
You’re probably a bot anyway.
Gee. Thanks?
The US can fucking burn for all I care but, I do feel like implementing tariffs on US products should be carefully considered.
Trumps economic policy is going to ruin the US economy and the quality of life for Americans. There’s no doubt about that.
The thing is, if you implement tariffs against the US then he can blame nasty Europe and mean China for what they’re doing to the US.
Alternatively, if you just let Americans pay the tariffs I think Trump will run out of steam pretty quick. How long can Americans stand to pay an extra 50% on all the junk they buy from China?
Not very long I’m betting.
Placing tariffs on US Big Tech services would accelerate the adoption and development of free and open source software, which benefits not only Europeans, but also people in the US and the rest of the world.
Ok, but how does that work when said services are free to use ?
Tax on ads revenue I suppose
Now that I’ve read the article, I guess the EU could try to get consumers to pay the EU customs to use Facebook for example. Not sure how that would work on a technical level. It would be easy for a consumer to bypass the EU paywall around Facebook.
Please do it. Hit us where it hurts.
Do it!
