Why **couldn't** the UK leave the EU?

However, Germany does have strong union and workers' council arrangements which normally make a legally-stipulated minimum wage unnecessary.

reasonable comment

VAT is reclaimable on non-EU imports by VAT registered businesses just as it is with VAT on goods originating in the EU, so it cannot be considered a tariff.

Low wages, yes. Slavery no.

On what basis do you claim that parliament is not allowed to bind its successors? Not allowed by who?

His statement isn't supported by any facts. You'd get more sense out of an Amoeba than you would from abelard.

yes it can.... but vat is charged to individuals...not to companies...

companies only collect it

Judging by today's news the eurozone is becoming ungovernable. It is being suggested that the banks will not accept a 'voluntary' 50 to 60% write down of Greek debt.

But if we had the same terms as, for example, Norway, we could have all the economic benefits and all the scientific cooperations without the EU writing our laws. In Norway they do adopt a good proportion of EU law but they make that decision themselves.

Robert

Not necessarily so. VAT is paid by both individuals and businesses. In the case of VAT registered businesses they can reclaim it. Business who are not registered for VAT cannot reclaim it. Either way the rules apply equally to all.

So you still haven't explained how the EU applies VAT rules in such a way as to put an "outsider" (as you call them) at a disadvantage to those within the EU. Why does VAT become a "considerable tariff wall" when applied to a US company, but not when applied to a European one?

If VAT were not applied to imports from outside the EU companies in the zone would justifiably complain that they were being discriminated against.

The claim first appeared on the EU website as part of a rolling text proclaiming the "EU's achievements". It was aimed at children, as is much of the EU's Soviet-esque "information". Clearly a ridiculous claim, the authors must have been delighted when adults, including panelists on BBC news programmes, took up the mantra in earnest.

the euro is an anarchic mess...it always has been....

it was constructed by fools

the us shops are competing with uk shops....

shops sell items to the public...

shops include all their costs....

the uk/eussr governments are adding a fine/tariff in order to undermine the greater efficiency of usa shops

why?

meanwhile of course they will complain...businesses always complain about more effective competition

i'm not arguing with that

As Mr. Berlusconi once said 'Read The Black Book of Communism and you will discover that in the China of Mao, they did not eat children, but had them boiled to fertilise the fields.'

Mr. Berlusconi tonight got of his limo his overcoat carelessly draped over his shoulders and an aide walking behind him moved forward and with a dramatic flourish removed it from his shoulders. His proud upright stance belaying the fact that he is about the cause a crises in the euro zone which will make make the Greek debacle look like (what is the Greek equivalent of a vicarage tea party)..... Not only is the Italian debt about 10x times what the Greeks have managed to knock up Berlusconi has managed to knock up lots more - oh yes. So without even solving the preliminaries in the shape of Greece the main event may be about to start.

europe. Lots of

And if the same product is made in the EU the 'tax thieves' [sic] would also want 20%. You seem to be dragging the thread off on a tangent....

Well, the US does not have a free trade agreement with the EU.

the usa shop keeper also has to pay taxes...they are incorporated in their sell prices

i'm not going off topic imv... i'm saying so-called vat on imports is in fact a tariff wall...

most trade agreements are partial... states also try to work around them to achieve advantage

the trade agreements are a great tangle of negotiated balances.... they call much of it 'free trade'....perhaps jokingly

in the eussr 'free-trade' means inside a tariff wall... and the governments work to cheap within that also....

we pay for the c.a.p. which benefits others....

a brit in france pays ~30% for medical treatment... a frog in the uk gets it for 'free'

the uk jobsworths make trouble for those bringing 'smuggled' goods/bads from the free trade area.....

it's a wicked world....all are fighting for an edge...

regards

The Grey Man wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

The US pays the UK to voice its foreign policy, inter alia, in the EU; hence the UK is the only EU member to favour Turkey's EU membership. Try finding a British voter who wants Turkey in the EU.

Because if US companies were able to sell their products in the EU without their customers having to pay VAT they would have an unfair price advantage over companies within the EU who are required to add VAT to their prices.