Why do European countries (including the UK) have ridiculous VAT rates?

[5GT. D34N]

I reside in Taiwan, where VAT is only at 5% for literally everything which applies to both physical and digital goods (which is "low" when looking at it from an EU & UK perspective) while European countries have high VAT (I think around 15-25% depending on the country). I have visited the UK only once, why? It's expensive as heck (food prices there made me think twice or choose carefully whilst on a budget).

[Hobbit XIII]

In the UK it was 17% then at the Recession/ banking crisis the bail out cost the treasury a lot of money for the tax payers .

Rather than enslave the useless bankers and investors and everyone responsible for it the government decided taxing the people suffering and cutting services while letting the bankers andvtheir minions keep getting lots of money.

Vat was raised to 20% + something and was meant to be short term.

And all these years on it is still high.

[Fake]

Originally posted by Corvus XIII:

Vat was raised to 20% + something and was meant to be short term.

And all these years on it is still high.

There is no such thing as a "temporary" tax because once government gets that money, they can NEVER spend less.

Just take a look at California. During a drought, California was putting water restrictions in place and called on the people to use less water.

The people used less water. California came back and increased the water rates because people using less water meant lets revenue. Once the drought was over, the water rates remained at the increased price.

Welcome to government spending budgets.

[Netaris]

20% here in France.

And the reason is simple ; Leaders here have no clues about how an economy is supposed to work. So, in order to fund all their stupid ideas, they tax, always more.

And no, it's not some kind of joke.

[Vox]

It was 17.5% then I think it went down to 15% then went up to 20%. On the plus size some food stuff is charged at zero rate VAT, so you can buy food without paying an extra 20%.

[Stop Having Kids]

Originally posted by Vox:

It was 17.5% then I think it went down to 15% then went up to 20%. On the plus size some food stuff is charged at zero rate VAT, so you can buy food without paying an extra 20%.

No wonder nothing good comes out of Europe.

[Heretic]

Originally posted by Vox:

It was 17.5% then I think it went down to 15% then went up to 20%. On the plus size some food stuff is charged at zero rate VAT, so you can buy food without paying an extra 20%.

It used to be 17.5% for many years, and then Gordon Brown dropped it to 15% just before he got the boot. Cameron then set it to 20%, which it has been at ever since for around 15 years now. I believe some things like books (paper/hard backs) are still 5%.

[unskilled-]

What better way to show trickle down economics than by trickle down taxation.

[Azuwi]

Originally posted by 5GT. D34N:

I reside in Taiwan, where VAT is only at 5% for literally everything which applies to both physical and digital goods (which is "low" when looking at it from an EU & UK perspective) while European countries have high VAT (I think around 15-25% depending on the country). I have visited the UK only once, why? It's expensive as heck (food prices there made me think twice or choose carefully whilst on a budget).

I think I should move to Taiwan then, seems like a paradise compared to europe.

[vkobe]

Originally posted by 5GT. D34N:

I reside in Taiwan, where VAT is only at 5% for literally everything which applies to both physical and digital goods (which is "low" when looking at it from an EU & UK perspective) while European countries have high VAT (I think around 15-25% depending on the country). I have visited the UK only once, why? It's expensive as heck (food prices there made me think twice or choose carefully whilst on a budget).

in EU every people get service+money even if you are not EU citizen

in usa you can only rely on state, town and organization to feed yourself and find home if you cant earn $$$ by yourself

[vkobe]

Originally posted by Azuwi:

Originally posted by 5GT. D34N:

I reside in Taiwan, where VAT is only at 5% for literally everything which applies to both physical and digital goods (which is "low" when looking at it from an EU & UK perspective) while European countries have high VAT (I think around 15-25% depending on the country). I have visited the UK only once, why? It's expensive as heck (food prices there made me think twice or choose carefully whilst on a budget).

I think I should move to Taiwan then, seems like a paradise compared to europe.

depend who attack first, russia or china ??

[L1qu1dator]

There's a lot of fat pigs in europarliament to feed, they're expensive pigs.

[5GT. D34N]

Originally posted by L1qu1dator:

There's a lot of fat pigs in euro Parliament to feed, they're expensive pigs.

This also impacts game prices too, as I can buy Black Myth: Wukong (Deluxe Ed.) for NT$1,580 (~184,85zł) with 5% VAT, while the same thing is 299,00zł, why? Blame 23% VAT in Poland for example, which is just insane to me. I've heard on reddit that Polish prices are absurd having one of the worst regional pricing on steam (Swiss has it worse).

The government takes so much from the player's wallet by imposing insane taxation, even on video games (PC) which is why Green Man is where they buy their games now rather than the direct store front.

[Grendalcat]

High levels of governmental services require high taxes to pay for them.

[L1qu1dator]

Originally posted by 5GT. D34N:

Originally posted by L1qu1dator:

There's a lot of fat pigs in euro Parliament to feed, they're expensive pigs.

This also impacts game prices too, as I can buy Black Myth: Wukong (Deluxe Ed.) for NT$1,580 (~184,85zł) with 5% VAT, while the same thing is 299,00zł, why? Blame 23% VAT in Poland for example, which is just insane to me. I've heard on reddit that Polish prices are absurd having one of the worst regional pricing on steam (Swiss has it worse).

The government takes so much from the player's wallet by imposing insane taxation, even on video games (PC) which is why Green Man] is where they buy their games now rather than the direct store front.

Yup, but don't need to tell me that bro. Games cost same as in western Europe or US, while the earnings are several times lower...

[Val]

Originally posted by 5GT. D34N:

I reside in Taiwan, where VAT is only at 5% for literally everything which applies to both physical and digital goods (which is "low" when looking at it from an EU & UK perspective) while European countries have high VAT (I think around 15-25% depending on the country). I have visited the UK only once, why? It's expensive as heck (food prices there made me think twice or choose carefully whilst on a budget).

Racism

The less White an EU country becomes, the higher the taxes

The less White a US city becomes, the more gun control