what is your comment on the subject?

when us inside EU want's to buy something from the outside we have to pay customs, in the case if you live in denmark they add around 37%, no matter if the goods are used or not, and it does not matter if you get the stuff from a private person or a company... an example wich is very current for me is buying a tuner for a mk2a from the us.. they are around 700 danish kroners, but duy to tax&customs shi* the prive goes up in the range of 1200 danish kroners.. but this is only if the value of the goods+postage gets over 60$... i guess that in the us you dont pay sales that when doing a trade between two private person, we at least dont to it here in denmark and most of the eu (the tax has been paid since it's used goods)

where did the free trade stuff go?

I don't really know, but I'm guessing that "free trade" is meant more for corporations as opposed to individuals.

I think what you need is some perspective. Trade is very free now compared to what it used to be.

As you say we have to pay tax when we import from outside of the EU (just like corporations also have to). But don't forget that there is no import tax within the whole of the EU, you have tax free trade in pretty much all of Europe (and a few far flung parts that stretch our modern impressions of where Europe ends).

This wouldn't have been the case for much of Europe before the EU.

Back in the second half of the 20th century, just after the second world war, import tax was huge in Europe. To discourage people from buying from abroad it wasn't unusual to have import tax of several hundred percent on certain luxury goods.

yeah but i understood it so that there is a free trade agreement between the us and eu

anyway i find it strange to put import tax stuff on used goods

I think that is where your problem is then, as far as I know there is no such free trade agreement between the US and EU.

There have been various efforts to make trade fairer, by convincing governments to reduce import tax that was set high enough to be designed to prevent import of certain goods. But that doesn't mean zero import tax.

well for an used mk2a tuner first i have to pay 12% import tax, but then they add 25% sales tax on top of it

sales tax have been paid once when PCA sold the kit.. the import tax is fair enough

If it helps PCA wouldn't have had to add any sales tax when he sold the tuners (though no doubt some sales tax would have been added when it was imported to the US).

It's a dirty money-grab, but almost all countries have something similar. Not every country has the high-way robbery rates you mentioned though.

Both the Canada and US also tax imports for private citizens. It doesn't matter that there also exists a couple of free trade agreements between the two countries. That agreement doesn't affect the taxing, only import duties and a few other charges.

When I bring anything in from the US as a private citizen into Canada, regardless of the value, I will have to pay 5% federal tax (called the Goods and Services tax - this used to be 7% two years ago) and 8% Provincial tax for Ontario. In other provinces the provincial tax amount is different - example, it's 0 in Alberta. This much is fair on new items purchased from a store, because it's the same amount of tax you pay at any store here locally.

Packages under $20 usually get by without having to pay anything because they don't want to be bothered collecting such small amounts. But not always. Sometimes packages with higher values slip through as well. In addition to the tax we will also pay a surcharge to the carrier for collecting or processing it. $5 to Canada Post for low-dollar collections with it going up to $15 for much higher amounts. UPS will charge anywhere from $15 to $50 and I don't know how they calculate this "brokerage fee." They once wanted me to pay a $37 brokerage for an $8 magazine they were delivering. UPS express shipments have lower brokerage fees. FedEx charges about $7 for the same thing on express and about $15 on non-express (ground).

In Canada we are supposed to declare all private non-store purchases of all goods, new and used for the purposes of submitting tax. For instance if I bought something from someone in another province over the net it doesn't pass through any borders or customs, therefore I don't pay anything. I'm supposed to declare that however so that I can pay both the GST (in most cases) and definitely the PST. Even buying something used from someone within my own province. I'm supposed to pay tax on it. I've never heard of anyone actually doing this of course.

On imports this applies to both purchases and gifts.

well it would call 12+25% high-way robbery... it makes me very angry

but it the goods are declared 60$ or less i don't have to pay anything

Yeah, you're supposed to do this in a number of states in the US, too. Certainly in California. Like you, though, I've also never heard of anyone doing it.

in denmark they sort goods in two ways, things from within the eu (which does not go to the customs). The rest is opened by customs, who first looks for something that declares the value, if they can find that, they just do the math for the tax+costums and hand it over to the post service (we only have one). The post service will not give it to you before you have paid.

if they can't find something that tells the value, they keep it and send a letter where they demand some proof of value before they pass it on...

The version of "free trade" here in the US/Canada was good for me, since it decreased/simplified the immigration requirements put on individuals practicing certain professions.

That sounds pretty similar to the way it works sending stuff from the US to Canada. When I go mail something other than a letter to my brother, I go to the post office, and fill out a little green customs form that lists the contents of the package, and the value. That form gets pasted on the exterior of the package, so that customs doesn't have to actually open it (unless they think I was lying).

here they open it no matter... you can always tell by the green tape they use to re-seal

to make things worse we pay tax from on our income, which for an us citizen would be killing (minimum 39%)

so i think that the import sh** is a bit out of order, at least for used stuff and things between private persons

Which presumably pays for good free healthcare, education and pensions ?

well yes, if the healthcare is good can be to discussion, at least my girlfriend cant get her tooth fixed before monday, and sometimes one has to wait 2 hours before it's your turn at the hospital even if you are complaining with heart trouble... but most of the time it good, but some times it's also bad..

compared to the us it's awesome... just watch sicko by michael moore

but to claim 37% on imports is a bit to "much"

but if they didn't they'd have to put up your other taxes or reduce state services, the money the state spends has to come from somewhere

yyes, or they could cut someof their expences, like the big fancy bmw that some of the elected drive in (with a driver ofcourse)... to say it short, trim the budget

True, but I think you've probably picked the wrong example there. They need a big car to fill it with armour plating to stop nutters killing them. And I'd rather my top elected officials had drivers rather than wasting time finding their own parking spaces

hehe, even our minister of state does not ride in an amored car... the same about our queen... we have nutters but they are either drunks or on drugs

Just since I happen to have my paystub here in front of me:

Federal income tax: 11%
Social Security tax: 6.1%
Medicare tax: 1.4%
NC State income tax: 6.6%

Medical insurance: 1.6%
Dental insurance: 0.2%

All together: 26.9%

And note that no medical service is free. I have to pay $30 for a simple doctor's visit. More complex things -- emergency room trips, surgeries -- can still cost hundreds or thousands of dollars even after the insurance is applied. And prescription drugs are not free, either. They generally range from $10 to $30 per medication per month for me, after insurance.

Really ?

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/13/europe/denmark.php

Really ? Wikipedia thinks otherwise:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Official_state_car#Denmark

(not that Wikipedia is always right)

If I remember where Boelle is in Denmark car purchase tax is something crazy like 80%, which kind of puts all the other taxes into the shade

Edit: I was wrong, it is 180%, not 80% !!!!

Wow.

I think UK car purchase tax was something similar, but that was many year ago shortly after the war.

In North Carolina, it's 3%. Although, we do have to pay something like 1.5% property tax (of the current assessed value) every year.

While we don't have a strict percentage annual property tax I do pay the equivalent of 0.5% in local tax. Next time we move we'll have to pay 4% of the price of our new house in stamp duty.

It's worth nothing that US Income tax is graduated. I am now paying 25% of my adjusted gross income because of my wife and I's latest raises. I am sending my stupid stimulus tax check back to the IRS as an estimated tax payment so I don't have to get anything extra taken out of my check.

well, he did an tour in a normal bus, so i wonder why he did not use the car...