Slashdot Mirror
U.S. E-Commerce Sites To Collect EU VAT
A concerned US-based e-commerce company with inter writes "While we have all been fighting the Internet sales tax battle here in the U.S., the European Union of 15 countries has recently required that all U.S. companies with web sales to EU citizens start collecting the value-added tax on July 1, 2003. The Washington Post has a good article about this. It seems Ebay, AOL, and others caved in on this without much complaint. Can U.S. Internet taxation be far behind if we have to start collecting and reporting 15 different VAT taxes? And sorry Mr. or Ms. EU Citizen, your website subscription now costs 15% to 25% more, starting July 1. Hope you like this added value."
So what you're saying is you want me to pay $950 a month for health insurance for your family instead?
"Assuming that governments have to collect taxes somehow, why is this a bad way to do it, as opposed to income or corporate tax?"
Because the EU is forcing people who live outside the EU (the stores) to conform to their own laws. This is exactly the same as the US trying to enforce the DMCA in Europe. If the EU can't make it's citizens pay VAT on imported goods, why the heck should they instead pass the buck on US merchants, who have enough state and local tax paperwork as it is?
"Although many Americans give the impression that they think all taxes are evil, over here in Europe we quite like having things like free health care for everyone, tidy streets etc."
Fine. You're an EU citizen, you worry about giving that money to your government. Don't make me have to pay it instead because I've never even been to that continent. I already make accurate customs declarations on all the merchandise I send out of the US. It's your tax law, your postal service should be the one to bear the cost of the required VAT infrastructure.
But every child has a right to free porn on public television! We don't want our children to search the internet and end up on vulgar sites such as Slashdot while searching for it.