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Some of us don’t pay VAT on business purchases either. It’s customary in US, and evil genius in EU, where consumer prices must be shown with VAT. It hides the
by vsl 8y ago
Some of us don’t pay VAT on business purchases either.
It’s customary in US, and evil genius in EU, where consumer prices must be shown with VAT. It hides the tax (surprisingly many people, even those you would expect to be financially literate, aren’t aware of the sheer amount of it - see any online bitching about Apple’s EU prices).
And that’s how you end up with 19-25% taxation of everything you buy in EU. US sales tax is acutely visible every time you buy something, it’s much harder to increase it, politically.
- oblio 7y agoI like how you manage to turn this around so skillfully. The US sucks because you never see the actual price of something you buy: you just notice it at the counter. When you ask why they don't just label the product with the final price, they say: we can't, it's too complicated. I doubt that.
- rootusrootus 7y agoThe real reason is probably that the retailer wants to show the lowest price. Especially for people who might choose to cross-shop different stores. The legitimate reason is that sales tax in the US can vary by city, or county, or state. Personally I think they should include both prices on the tag. I suppose if you live somewhere that has sales tax you get used to doing the math on the fly. I live in a state with no sales tax so it always surprises me when I shop out of state.