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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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
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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.