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Ok thanks for that perspective. To answer your point, the thing about prices and taxes is that the price will be basically whatever the market will pay. It is

Ok thanks for that perspective. To answer your point, the thing about prices and taxes is that the price will be basically whatever the market will pay. It is not determined by the cost of service except at the lower end. So a low VAT (compared to no VAT) will come mostly out of the profits and not so much from a price increase. This is especially true when the current situation is in most places that there is a rather high VAT, so there the lower VAT will actually reduce prices a little bit, but again not by the whole difference because the price of necessities isn’t determined by the cost but by demand. In any situation however I remain of the opinion that until we get a progressive wealth tax we’ll continue on the same path of increasing inequality that ultimately destroys democracy.

LeonB 3y ago
> the price will be basically whatever the market will pay I too am optimistic that markets can work and there are situations where the price will be what the market will pay. But what I observe is - from the consumer side: a rapid rise of monopolies From the producer side: an even more rapid rise of monopsonies (this is the sneakier consequence of monopolies that most of us don’t see, but which affects us most) Those two items damage the premise of free markets But add this: From the government pov - these companies are beyond taxation: they can shift profits off shore and or manipulate tax policy such that the playing field is no where near level.