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Sure, I'm all for paying taxes if you get good services in return. But what kills me is when buying stuff from the US and paying whatever import taxes are requ
by vladvasiliu 1y ago
Sure, I'm all for paying taxes if you get good services in return.
But what kills me is when buying stuff from the US and paying whatever import taxes are required on top of shipping, and VAT on top of all that, you still end up cheaper.
Taking GP's example, shipping, taxes on the product + shipping won't end up more than doubling the initial price.
Hell, things are so ridiculous that a while ago I bought an Italian-made[0] tripod and gear head from BH in NY. Had it shipped by UPS (large and heavy parcel, so not cheap), paid taxes on the complete price, and it was still way cheaper than buying locally from France.
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[0] It pretends to be actually made in Italy, not only an Italian brand off-shoring production to Asia.
- MagnumOpus 1y agoThat’s not the EU’s fault, is it? At best the import taxes (if any) are on the EU. VAT is added by your country, and if something is more expensive after everything than importing it yourself, that’s on a lack of competition in your marketplace…
- vladvasiliu 1y agoThis looks like a classic EU vs constituent countries debate. Your points are correct, but that's a general rebuff against photios' points: nothing is imposed by the EU itself; everything comes from the countries themselves, even if they all do the same thing. However, I think photios' point was rather that EU countries tend to tax things to hell and back, even if the countries arrived at the same situation by their own means, rather than it being a general EU directive. dvfjsdhgfv's comment is the same: all the positive things in that comment come from the countries themselves; they're not EU directives, either.