this post was submitted on 28 Jan 2025
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Many EU countries have a "VAT" and like feel like this is kinda targeting poor people. Like, for the rich, this is insignificant, for poorer people, a (example) 20% tax would be a huge burden. Why do they do this?

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[โ€“] Bruncvik 1 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

I agree overall, but VAT is not all that difficult to evade, at least in the service industry. Paying handymen in cash is common in many countries, and that's a means to evade VAT. Hell, even using them to buy the building or landscaping materials for you (being a registered business they purchase for prices without VAT) saves you on most of the tax. Then there's service barter. I did it only once, a long time ago, but it can serve as an example: I did family portraits (photography) for my physio, in exchange for a number of physio sessions. If we charged each other, it would have cost each of us, say, 250 Euros, but we'd only see 200 each, and the state would get 100. So, savings of 50 for each of us.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

being a registered business they purchase for prices without VAT

That's not true, sorry. A business pays stuff with VAT included too, but they can later claim back the VAT they paid against the VAT they raised from selling stuff, so they don't have to hand all of that over.

[โ€“] Bruncvik 1 points 14 minutes ago

I'm personally not sure how it works. But when we were upgrading our bathroom, the tile shop added the VAT to the quoted sale price. I then asked a friend of mine who is VAT-registeted to buy it for us, and he got it from the same warehouse for the non-VAT price.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 17 hours ago

Sure, but those are relatively small potatoes.

And if a single person does it a lot, then the tax authorities can easily examine their spending and prove that they are spending more than they are officially earning. And then they can apply punitive measures.