VAT Nonsense = Non Renewing European

Hmm I thot Chris was speaking sorta metaphorically, but OK, let's go with it ...

Technically speaking the UN would only have to march out of UN Plaza onto 42nd street to invade. And I do SO want to see that happen, because it would make one helluva musical. *begins to work on a new version of Springtime for Hitler*, lifting riffs from "42nd Street" as she goes ...

O.o Godwin!

Well, maybe about time for this thread? Just a thot ...

Chris scares me!

Good point. Well, New York being New York, I still don't think they would make it very far. lol at the musical. Excellent. The Kofi Annan dance number is sure to be spectacular.

I knew he didn't seriously think the UN was going to invade - it's just that the metaphor plays to a stereotype that other countries have of the US that is untrue and it bugs me. If I was out of line or offensive in my response, I apologize to you and to Chris.

They'd never make it to 10th Avenue, let alone get through Jersey.

/me cleans her Dad's shotgun just in case.

*I love those cute blue helmets.

Oh man, they would get to Midtown, and the taxi drivers would mow them all down when they tried to jay-walk. And the sidewalk vendors would bankrupt the survivors, selling them hats that look hella better than those stupid blue helmets. And if anyone was left after that, someone would sell them the Brooklyn Bridge.

It would be too terrible to watch.

Blue Helmets invading?

They'd never make it past the Irish bars on the East Side ...

The smart ones, anyway...

Seriously, an army is as good as the will of its soldiers. Who in this world is willing to DIE for the UN?

OK, sorry, I take it back, didn't mean to spoil the fun. Let the jokes resume. This is better even than Canadian jokes, which our neighbors to the north love to tell on themselves.

That depends on your local juristiction. In the US, that's not true.

While the US is a party to a vast number of mutlilateral and bilateral treaties (including tax and extridtion treaties), as a matter of law in the US, the Consitution is the supreme law of the land (the "Supremacy Clause" of Article Six). If a treaty entered into by the US government contravenes the Constitution, then that treaty (or parts of it) can be struck down by the courts just like an unconstitutional federal or state law. (See Reid v. Covert, 354 U.S. 1).

Huh? Since when is the UN going to invade the US? And why bother shooting, when they can't shoot back? Heck, I could blow spitballs at the poor UN guys all day long and they'd just have to stand there. For that matter, I could throw knives at them all day long, or mount a .50-cal on the roof of my truck and start blowing them away, and they'd just have to stand there. But hey, guess what? I never would do any of those things. It's pointless, and the UN isn't going to try to "control American citizens on US soil." So why make threats against the Blue Helmets when they've never done anything to warrant it?

[Edit: LOL! I posted this before I got through all that other stuff about the UN invading NY.]

Oh I'm sure Chris is being overly dramatic for effect yes.....but.........a man can dream I guess.........

Hhmm, to make a rhetorical point?


Earliest American flags at the beginning of the Revolution featured a rattlesnake and the legend: Don't tread on me.

Frankly, I htink the world would be a better place if more people in it put that attitude to work.

To clairfy, the Supreme Court, can of course, only strike down a treaty as it applies to the US. They have no authority over other nations.

I like you. I bet you're fun at parties.

Nah! Chris is a sweet little friendly puppy dog.
He's just RP-ing a loud arrogant redneck.

The people he's RP-ing shouldn't scare you either. Just as long as you don't go near them.

They've got assault rifles - and heavier stuff.
They are bored with using them just to shoot squirrels and rabbits.

Every night they go on bended knees and pray for the Lord to send along a commie or a 'terroristic' type of individual for them to shoot and "defend our freedoms".
The fact that nobody wants to invade them is a real bummer. The alternative of watching out for aliens is a bit embarrassing, so they pin their hopes on an early "End of Days" for some action.

Actually it isn't nonsense - there is apparently an EU directive from 2003 to collect VAT on internet service from no-EU companies selling to EU members.

What happened is that when you reached a certain amount of users/members you had to start paying VAT. SL recently reached this and has found themselves in trouble. If you look at the statistics LL produced of users and from what countries, you see that they did not expect the boom is residents, this is also shown by the 'unexpected bar' which is high...

SO suddenly they were confused, had to impose VAT before they ended up in a lot of trouble, kind of out of LL's control. They should have let out a warning however, before the charges, not after.

My question, which is a very important one. Is if a certain amount of EU members leave SL, to under the amount of required EU customers... would that mean VAT will stop being charged?

The problem could just be that there was a surge of EU customers for that one month, might drop this month- especially with the whole VAT dilemma... and then VAT be not required.

We all saw the surge last Christmas- at least those in SL then did, We hit 1 million users October 18th. Exactly around this time last year. Then it died down just as it had come.

The year before that it was the same, we out of nowhere jumped to 100 thousand from 50ish. Then it died down,

Not saying SL is not growing, just saying the surge of residents dies off and then theres a bunch of new regulars and the old ones left.

The boom although bringing in a tonne more residents, never really stays around long, it dies down and cools off. So we could very possibly loose the number of EU residents required for VAT to be applicable?

You know LL could just cap the EU residents able to login at a time or something, or per day... just to avoid VAT... But then I see people crying about that to.

You know, all you EU residents with ALTS could be the reason you are paying VAT. So essentially this could all be your own fault. Might be registering as an individual EU customer.

Or something wow my thoughts are lost and confused. :|

-LilMatty Althouse

lol no not a Linden. I am unhappy with SL in general as well. The VAT thing however just seems silly people complain about paying what they are supposed to. What if LL absorbed the VAT? Then the US residents would be paying more then they should. lol Also in the USA prices do NOT include taxes. So that might be something they over looked.

In any event I am just saying you guys sound more like children when they get their candy taken away when you complain instead of a grown up attitude about it. All the threats about lawsuits and leaving isn't going to change anything.

can i have your stuff?

You are not the only one thinking that as I have friends who rent from Dreamland who wondered what was going on at the time.

Anybody else know of recent rent restructures by large landholding EU AVs/business pre the VAT charge?

I thought LL had a office in Europe?



Ugh I hope they were not told about this. If so, once again us "average" customers are left in the dust while the "big players" get behind the scene priveleges. Retarded if you ask me, whe the "average players" leave because of BS like this, what use are the "big players"???????

Ok once more with feeling ...

From the Trading Standards Authority:

"Offences
If the seller is in business (rather than a private seller), he may have committed a criminal offence if he:
..snipped..
* advertises a misleading price;"

That's your statutory rights as a UK consumer. As it says "criminal" I'd imagine the OFT or some such body would be interested in following it up even if the company is based in America.

Quite aside from the web pages still quoting costs excluding VAT and failing to mention it, we not only saw an advertised "misleading price", but were expecting to pay that advertised "misleading price" right up until a few days before payments were due. And since tier costs are calculated for the previous month, there was no way you could tier down to avoid the increase in the "misleading price".

And yes. It really does say "criminal".

Sighs and shrugs ... apparently people aren't bothered by a criminal act these days ...

Some of the comments, quite funny, I won't quote them all, but needless to say, I was laughing!

For those of you that will think what you want to think without researching it, even posting up "opinions" that directly contradict the official organizations links that I posted without providing an iota of truth or facts behind yours - nothing will change your mind if you are on a crusade to spread idiocy.

I'm the only person here, that I have seen so far that has backed up and provided proof (even when I was asked, though I've asked others and they refused) of my position and what really goes on.

Obviously, you'd rather go around with sensationalism on the boards, than do any real action against the real entity that forces LL to comply with VAT. That's quite alright.

Though I am starting to really honestly wonder, usually groups in SL is telling of the outrage. I've been spammed by the same group of 4-5 people (one of which is in this thread).

The whole of people in against VAT groups is only around... 400? When copybot hit the streets there were 400 in a group in an hour (similar to the against open verification group). So I'm starting to think it really is a minority of VAT payers who don't understand. Maybe it's the group who thinks that there are no fees to other countries for other services, whatever the case may be. Throughout the course of trying to help the VAT haters by providing the correct knowledge, I've also started to realize - the repeated threads popping up against VAT are generally inhabited by the same people as well. I'm really starting to doubt that so many are so outraged by it, rather than knowing that it's an accepted task that must be applied due to their own country laws.

If they were truly concerned about this VAT, the change would have been lobbied for a long time before LL got involved. I think it's a case of "we can see these people don't pay it, so we shouldn't either". It's essentially the same as me going getting ticked off one of my RL suppliers in state can charge state tax to me, but doesn't have to - to someone else in another state. It's not their fault, they can't change it just for me, they have to abide by law.

Other than that.... if you want a change about VAT, go to a government that can DO something about it. Not a company that won't lobby on your behalf.

Oy. Just pay the VAT, or don't.

End.

Well I wouldn't be any happier paying Australian dollars to an American company and it's taxation system to rent off a European and pay their taxation system too

Who the hell is happy paying taxes?

Yeah that's right. Yay for global economic and employment opportunities. No, really.

*edit* I better make this clear that was meant to be sarcastic - but then again I *DO* live in the third world, apparently.