Hacker News Reader

Comment by nabla9 | Hacker News Reader

It's one of those core innovations like double-entry bookkeeping making things more fair.

VAT provides an incentive for businesses to register and keep invoices, because they automatically pay more for tax they can't show invoice.

I just found out that many people in the US have opinions against it when Trump/Vance did bring out VAT into the discussion, so I felt I had to confirm my assumption that VAT is nearly universal. In some ways the US attitude is like UK was in the 1900s when it comes to infrastructure of governance "old things work just fine."

View on HN

> It's one of those core innovations like double-entry bookkeeping making things more fair.

How is Double-entry bookkeeping making things more fair or not? it's just a better technical solution to a problem accountants faced

It's a regressive tax: https://taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/who-would-bear-bur...

>Although a value-added tax (VAT) taxes goods and services at every stage of production and sale, the net economic burden is like that of a retail sales tax

1. all goods and services taxation is regressive.

2. VAT is better than alternative goods and services taxation methods.

Argument for removing goods and services taxation is one thing.

Argument for compensating good and services taxation to the poorest (as is common) is another.

None of these are arguments against VAT itself. VAT is harder to avoid and brings more money and allows lower tax rate all things considered.

In the source you provided look up the:

>Why is the VAT administratively superior to a retail sales tax?

What if you waive it on food, school supplies, public transport &c...

It's typical to have reduced VAT for food, etc.

There is even better way to offset the regression of consumption taxes. Hint three letters, starts with U.

UB40

How does British Reggae help us?

It reduces the degree of regressive, but as long as lower-income people spend any money at all on nonexempt goods it will never make it neutral.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com