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The EU very much wants to control member state tax rates, hence the recent Apple case and the VAT changes they made. There are lots of EU regulations that are

The EU very much wants to control member state tax rates, hence the recent Apple case and the VAT changes they made. There are lots of EU regulations that are basically pointless busywork. Look at the cookie rules. Huge cost and expense to implement millions of warnings, no benefit, and their plan is to double down on them.

barrkel 10y ago
They didn't make VAT changes in the Irish case. They ruled that Ireland didn't apply its own laws fairly and with equal treatment. It's a highly contentious issue and is being appealed by Ireland, particularly since it's retrospective and involves a massive clawback. It makes the rule of law look shaky in Ireland. It's not likely to stand as is for that reason alone, IMO. Some countries - particularly ones with larger economies - want to stop smaller economies undercutting their tax bases. The current laws mean that profits get taxed in the country where the company doing the sales is based. There is some talk of changing this so that the profit is more balanced based on where the sales are targeted. I think this is fair; this again comes under beggar-thy-neighbour common rules.
- zigzigzag 10y ago
  My sentence was perhaps overly hard to parse. It was a list of two things, related only by the general area of tax. Not that the Irish case is VAT related. Indeed it's not. I was talking about the change to EU wide VAT rules that force sellers to charge VAT at the buyer rate not the seller rate.
ksec 10y ago
Exactly. There is a difference between a EU political system and a EU free market as there is a difference between EU and EEA. I havent heard a single person who are against the free market. But UK is split between some / most elite who dont want their nation to fell into others hand, the lower class who gets absolutely no benefits at all, ( They are poor with the free market, and they will STILL be poor if UK leave ), and basically the middle class who think money is the most important factor, and are willing to trade their nationalities for more money or higher standard of living.

barrkel 10y ago

They didn't make VAT changes in the Irish case. They ruled that Ireland didn't apply its own laws fairly and with equal treatment. It's a highly contentious issue and is being appealed by Ireland, particularly since it's retrospective and involves a massive clawback. It makes the rule of law look shaky in Ireland. It's not likely to stand as is for that reason alone, IMO. Some countries - particularly ones with larger economies - want to stop smaller economies undercutting their tax bases. The current laws mean that profits get taxed in the country where the company doing the sales is based. There is some talk of changing this so that the profit is more balanced based on where the sales are targeted. I think this is fair; this again comes under beggar-thy-neighbour common rules.

zigzigzag 10y ago
My sentence was perhaps overly hard to parse. It was a list of two things, related only by the general area of tax. Not that the Irish case is VAT related. Indeed it's not. I was talking about the change to EU wide VAT rules that force sellers to charge VAT at the buyer rate not the seller rate.

ksec 10y ago

Exactly. There is a difference between a EU political system and a EU free market as there is a difference between EU and EEA. I havent heard a single person who are against the free market. But UK is split between some / most elite who dont want their nation to fell into others hand, the lower class who gets absolutely no benefits at all, ( They are poor with the free market, and they will STILL be poor if UK leave ), and basically the middle class who think money is the most important factor, and are willing to trade their nationalities for more money or higher standard of living.