3 ms·

looks like a VAT cut, so I expect the EU commission will be after them too

• jakobegger 10y ago
  It's perfectly legal to lower tax rates on certain products or services. Most EU countries already have multiple VAT rates; eg. in Austria food is taxed at 10% whereas most other stuff is taxed at 20%
  • blibble 10y ago
    it isn't, the minimum rate is 15% EU wide. there's a lot of rates which were grandfathered in when countries joined the EU, but lowering the VAT on any new products requires unanimous approval in the council. all details are here: http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/business/vat/eu-vat-rules-topic/vat-rates_en http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/business/vat/eu-vat-rul... additionally, the commission wants to phase out reduced rates (see my other comment)
• skrause 10y ago
  Different VAT rates for different types of products are not a problem in EU, in fact almost all European countries also have a reduced VAT rate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union_value_added_tax#VAT_rates https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union_value_added_tax... Quite often the reduced rate applies e.g. to food, but it really can be any product category.
  • blibble 10y ago
    this is an anachronism, the commission regards reduced rates as "an obstacle to the proper functioning of the internal market"[1] for quite a while the commission has attempted to reform VAT, ostensibly for a "simpler, more efficient and robust VAT system" with the intent of "broadening the tax base and limiting the use of reduced rates" to "generate new revenue streams", which is reported in the media as "EU wants to add VAT to food, childrens clothes and books". [1]: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52011DC0851&from=EN http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX...