Never understood European VAT tax. Seems to high and quite counter productive.

But if a State does not have a sales tax that usually means much higher property taxes. Or perhaps a state level income tax. Or be like California and have all of them.

Or be the corporation capital.

VAT is the replacement for the purchase tax ( = sales tax) we had before, it is a tax added to the value of the item.

VAT must be included in the price displayed for consumers, for trade/wholesale it is optional and usually excluded and a separate tax amount shown on the price sticker along with the rate at which it is charged at. In the UK there are 3 rates of VAT:

Standard VAT rate: 20%

Reduced VAT rates: 5% property renovations

Reduced VAT rates: 0% foodstuffs, books, pharmaceuticals, medical, passenger transport, newspapers, children�s clothing

The only way of really avoiding the VAT is to export the item to a country that is outside the European Economic Area

Lots of info here http://www.vatlive.com/

Yup that makes complete sense to me. I think everyone and their grandma incorporates in DE.

I think we started paying tax on Amazon back in May?

Anyway, it was never a consideration for me. The consideration was always that Amazon had what I wanted (when likely no one else or only online stores did) and was usually cheaper by more than sales tax anyway. So often the price on Amazon with tax is still equal to or lower than the price without tax in the local store...and I'd still have to pay tax.

I grant that if you're buying a TV or other large appliance that's well over $1k that it makes a significant difference on the tax, but in my experience I've only ever bought ONE item from Amazon over $1k (a 65" TV back in 2011) and I've rarely bought an item over $200 (maybe once a year), and usually spend less than $100 in the average multiple order. So it's $6 on $100...so what?



The Jedi Master

The only reason that VAT, or a similar sales tax, makes any sense is if there is no income tax, and all government-provided services are paid for. In theory, it would then be a true use-based tax. Unfortunately, no country has properly instituted a VAT/Sales tax that does not incorporate any other unapportioned taxes.

-Skater