It's essentially just slightly more involved sales tax.
*Slightly* more??? Sales and purchase taxes tend only to be
levied on physical goods and are only generally paid by the
end consumer. VAT, on the other hand, taxes just about
everything, including intangible services, is subject to
different rates based on location (for example, take out food
versus eat in) and is paid and reclaimed by everybody in the
chain of production. It costs a ton to administer and the
paperwork we have to maintain is a pain.
Then there's the crap added by those idiots in Brussels
concerning cross-border transactions. If I buy something from the
UK by mail order, I pay the VAT if it's for personal use, but
don't if it's for professional use. If I *physically* go to the
UK and buy something for professional use, I cannot reclaim the
VAT upon leaving the UK and returning to France.
Now those self same idiots want American companies to levy EU VAT
on transactions EU citizens make over the internet, starting
July 2003. Of course, they have left the actual details about
how they would actually enforce this, or even get their hands on
the tax itself, quite vague. (As a side note, this is
blatant hypocrisy given that the EUcrats bleat loud and
long whenever the US tries to extend its laws to cover the EU!
Maybe they're learning from Dubya and co?)
A warning to our US friends: Dubya and co are looking to create
a Federal value added tax...
Gavin