Are all VATs the Same?

As the present U.S. administration continues to strive to emulate the great (sic) European societies, what will that mean for us playing our little game of Second Life in the United States?
Barack Obama's European tendencies are not in doubt. His policies on government spending, taxation, health care and carbon emissions would all tend to bring America in line with European norms, to a far greater degree than any other president of the last 40 years and probably any president ever. The U.S. gov't will eventually need to raise money to pay for all these statist programs.
It all sounds good to the "have nots", those who envy the wealthy, when the remedy is to tax the rich. But even if confiscating 70% of income from the greedy rich(a person's EARNED private property),it will not pay for all these programs. And raising taxes on the middle to lower class is political suicide. What is a socialist gov't to do? Why a Value Added Tax (VAT) of course, a consumption tax on every product or service through out the production chain. It is already being spoken about in the U.S. congress as the "cure". The first step to gauge public opinion and eventual passage.
Beyond the question of who, (lower or upper income citizens), the VAT actually hurts most, my selfish and greedy question is are all VATs the same? i.e. will any VAT established in the U.S. force Linden Labs to charge land/estate owners extra as they do the Europeans?

No, some are twice as much or more than others.

They vary from EU country to country.....UK & Cyprus being 15% at the moment to Sweden, Norway & Denmark being 25%. Switzerland has 7.6% but i'm not aware they are in the EU as yet.

Great (sic) European Societies? Hmm, as if the US is a healthy one, lol.

As for VAT, the amount you pay here depends on where you are at (country)
I as a Dutch citizen, pay 19%. Meaning my sim cost me 351.05 US a month.
Any Linden Dollars I export to PayPall will be taxed the same, and Premium Membership is taxed as well.

But beware. It's the thin end of the wedge. VAT started here (UK) at 8% a long time ago. It's currently at 15%, having been reduced from 17.5% because of the recession.

I'm British. The big problem isn't that of paying VAT, it's just part of the price and we never think about it, or at least I don't. The problem is for businesses who have to keep do all their VAT accounts if they're big enough to have be VAT registered - all the extra work, although they do get to claim their VAT back.

If you want to start a thread critical of the President, or just for the sake of discussing politics - fine, do so (though I'm not fond of seeing those discussions in this particular forum).

On the other hand, if you're really just interested in the VAT question, then just ask it. It's a perfectly reasonable question by itself, with no need for additional clarification, let alone political opinions.

But it just seems disingenuous to attach several paragraphs of opinion to a simple one sentence question.

VAT is similar to a sales tax to the end user and I know you have sales taxes in the states. Like sales taxes, VAT doesn't apply to everything.

(all barely remembered from previous VAT threads) My understanding is that VAT is charged to all people that live in a country where it applies. If that person actually does business in SL then there are ways for some of them to get the VAT back.

Norway is actually not in the EU, but you are correct that most VAT here is are 25% (with some exceptions of 14%, 7% and some goods being VAT-free). Since Norway is not an EU-member, we dont have to pay the VAT that the rest of you do here in SL (knocks on wood and hope it lasts).

Switzerland is not an EU member yet (and since they love being neutral, I dont think they will be soon either).

If you mean are all VATs bad, the answer is yes. But then all taxes are bad, since theft is always morally wrong and taxation is theft.

oh- i forgot one of the Scandinavian countries wasn't in the EU as yet...thought it was Sweden. I stand corrected!

Nope, Australian VAT called GST is 10%

Hey Benski,
What do you mean with the cash-out to paypal being taxed? When I do a cash-out, I get exactly the amount that LL sends over, on my paypal account. Now income tax should be payed, but VAT?

Mentioning VAT is a standard trolling technique in pub conversations.

It's ok then, because this isn't a pub

The issue with a VAT in the USA is that many states already have sales taxes in place, and the double tax would not go over very well. Nor are the state governments likely to give them up.

Taxes on internet services don't exist yet, (it's been tried a few times) for a number of reasons--from "harming" the growth of the fledgling internet (yeah right) to the difficulty in collecting and dispensing taxes for every municipality that expects a cut. As it is now, taxes need not be collected unless the seller has a brick and mortar presence in the state where the transaction is conducted. And as I understand it, applies only to goods--as opposed to services.

But the whole political process is under firm control of the people paying the lobbyists. Obama might have a lot to say about what should be done--But very little control in making it happen. Things aren't likely to change in the states any time soon.

And the more you or your corporation makes, the better you are able to hire tax lawyers and accountants to reduce/eliminate the the burden of tax.

Some states do tax services. For example, see this list of services taxed by Texas: http://www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/taxpubs/tx96_259.html .

Most of those are clearly in-state services, so the interstate issues don't apply. However the "web site creation" item under Data Processing caught my eye. I'll have to do some research if I ever accept a contract from someone there, but my quick reading of that is that it applies if the service provider is in Texas. If so, that means I have an advantage against a Texas web developer bidding on Texas development.

Yay! Way to go, Texas!

And of course you have the "Usage" taxes that many states put on out of state purchases. Buy something from out of state and don't pay sales tax on it or pay a sales tax less the the one charged in your state and you will get hit with the usage tax. Usually a line on your end of year state tax return that will read "Did you buy anything that you did not pay "Your State" sales tax on?" Even magazine subscriptions fall under this.

Ahhh good. So if I understand correctly, even when, ooops if a VAT is imposed in the U.S., it dose not necessarily mean Linden Labs is required to extract additional fees from a U.S. citizen. That's what I can't understand. So its the European Union policy makers that are the culprit in the entire unfair mess?

I stand corrected.

Actually, it was a *Conservative* government in the UK that doubled VAT from 8% to 17.5% - under that well-known "socialist" Margaret Thatcher. I guess that doesn't fit in with your rant, though.

VAT is set by each country in the EU, and differs from country to country. It has nothing to do with socialism, unless of course you consider the sales taxes you have are also "socialist".

Margaret Thatcher a socialist?????.........she was "true blue" as they come! Meaning she leaned more to the Right than nearly all the subsequent Tory leaders

The quotation marks didn't give it away? Take a few of these and apply them retrospectively, Rene.

Pep (Maybe it was late?)

I love it when scare-mongering rednecks start wetting their pants.

Although some of them are trying a bit too hard - apparently that commie bastard Obama is now encouraging people to help others!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQVqIpqA80Y