It's not that easy. The rules are byzantine. You have to determine location using multiple pieces of "evidence", IP geocoding is insufficient. There are specifi

It's not that easy. The rules are byzantine. You have to determine location using multiple pieces of "evidence", IP geocoding is insufficient. There are specific rules for what to do if the user is on a plane or a cruise ship. You need to correctly map the user's location to VAT rate even though in some parts of Europe VAT differs within a country, rates can change at any moment and there's no central database of rates. The VAT rulings are a mess. The correct thing to do is let remote retailers drive the sales tax rates to zero for things that can be bought over the internet. The complexities of trying to pretend all sales are local in a world where long-range shipping and the internet exist aren't worth it. But let's not forget the EU's other regulatory hits. The cookie law that means every website now tells me it uses cookies (I know), with an annoying pop up (that uses a cookie to remember it's been dismissed). This solved zero problems I had in life but does mean using the web has become systematically unpleasant. And then there's the GDPR, a law that literally says "you can't do these things unless you have a legitimate need in which case you can", thus making a mockery of the entire concept of law. GDPR is especially indicative of the EU's true nature because, of course, it does not apply to the EU itself. The Commission was in violation on the day it came into force, on this being noticed they announced that the Commission does not have to comply with GDPR like everyone else does. The EU has a long track record of passing awful, business-killing laws whilst simultaneously ignoring any of its own laws or treaties the moment they get in the way of what the EU's leadership wants. It's a part of the world that implements rule by law.