The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), along with the Japanese government, has filed a trade complaint against the European Union, saying the E.U. has violated a World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement by taxing the import of some tech products. They allege that the E.U. is illegally imposing import duties on cable and satellite boxes that can access the Internet, flat-panel computer monitors, and some multifunction computer printers, the USTR announced Wednesday. Those products represented a $70 billion global export market in 2007, the USTR said in a news release. "It is critical that the European Union live up to its [WTO] obligations instead of imposing new taxes and duties on innovative technologies," U.S.Trade Representative Susan Schwab said in a statement. "The EU should be working with the United States to promote new technologies, not finding protectionist gimmicks to apply new duties to these products." Representatives of the E.U. did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
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The EU are a bunch of unelected socialists that will tax high and do bugger all else.
That sounds just like 'new' labour!
The EU are a bunch of unelected socialists that will tax high and do bugger all else.
That sounds just like 'new' labour!
republican/capitalist/conservator have the same "trait".
first, it isn't a tax it's an import duty.
second, we do elect the lower house of EU legislature the last election was in 2004 remember?
third, they have very little to do with tax apart from VAT although member states still set the rate.
fourth, the EU do a lot else inlcuding customs, competition, monetary policy, agriculture and fishery.
first, it isn't a tax it's an import duty.
second, we do elect the lower house of EU legislature the last election was in 2004 remember?
third, they have very little to do with tax apart from VAT although member states still set the rate.
fourth, the EU do a lot else inlcuding customs, competition, monetary policy, agriculture and fishery.
The elected MEPs have no power, in practice anyway.
The EU are a bunch of unelected socialists that will tax high and do bugger all else.
That sounds just like 'new' labour!
republican/capitalist/conservator have the same "trait".
You have that backwards.
at the moment they have relatively limited power but under the treaty of lisbon which is due to come in to force next year (as long as it is ratfied) they will have equal power to the council in most policy areas.
The EU are a bunch of unelected socialists that will tax high and do bugger all else.
That sounds just like 'new' labour!
Do yourself (and everyone else) a favour and LOOK UP the definition of Socialist.
The pot and the kettle comes to mind.
Isn't that obvious?
The pot and the kettle comes to mind.
No. Our problem is the complete opposite. Our government doesn't enforce enough import restrictions which costs the people in jobs. US corporations seek their labor in other countries and pay the relatively cheep import costs to sell goods back to the US.
Oh please. Steel tarrifs, gambling restrictions, airline subsidies, etc - the US is perfectly happy to exercise its muscle where it sees fit. In some of those cases the US went too far and the WTO ruled against them. The whole point is that the WTO is there to govern international trade to protect trade markets - not all decisions will benefit every country but they are designed to be fair overall. Every country would love to impose huge import tariffs to protect their businesses but international trade cannot operate like that.
/pompous much?
Now, what other successful American company can they steal from next?
I appreciate that there may be a slight price difference due to such things as the EU import tax and a spot of shipping, but when USians pay $399 for something and UKians have to pay £399 for the same thing it really annoys me that companies then use the "oh, import duties and transport costs" excuse to double the price. Also annoying is the "well, that's what the market will bear" line trotted out. How about "we could corner the market with our stuff if it wasn't price hiked to match everybody else's baseline"? Oh, but that would mean actually giving a damn about the customer instead of ripping them off.
Which is why I buy hardware when possible from somewhere cheaper, even factoring in shipping costs, possible personal import duties, etc.
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