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Steve Jobs Tells Germans to Blame Their Government for iPad Price Difference

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Re: Steve Jobs Tells Germans to Blame Their Government for iPad Price Difference

#51

Post by yequalsx »

s1rech wrote: post #46
yequalsx wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, the money will end up getting rerouted to Deutsche Bank and other German banks. Germany has promoted consumption within the EU. It is the number 1 (or number 2) exporter in the world and most of its exports go to other EU countries. If Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, England, etc. go down guess who suffers too. There is an imbalance in the system and it needs correcting or else Germany will suffer along w…

I guess some action is needed. However, it was not so long ago that huge sums of money were spent throughout Europe to avoid a collapse, or so they told us, and here we are again opening our pockets, and greece may be only the first one in line. That kind of bothers me. (and I'm not implying that german politicians are the only sane ones or something. They are probably so reticent because of fear of losing an electio…

It would bother me too. My girlfriend is German and she's upset with the bailout. My point to her is that if the whole world were like Germans who would do the buying?

Re: Steve Jobs Tells Germans to Blame Their Government for iPad Price Difference

#52

Post by kgermino »

brazzy wrote: post #36
kgermino wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As annoying as it can be I actually think its a good thing that the amount you're paying in taxes is listed separately because then you are forced to see what you're paying in taxes. I live outside Chicago and in some areas around me the sales tax is >10% (10.25 in the city I believe). The fact that you see what your paying in taxes every time you buy something makes it harder for the politicians to raise it too high…

VAT is always listed separately in Europe as well (on the receipt) - it just has to be included in the advertised price.

How often do people actually read their receipt?

It's good that they do have the charge listed but I still feel like most people are not aware how much of their bill went to the VAT whereas in general around here you can't possibly miss it.

Re: Steve Jobs Tells Germans to Blame Their Government for iPad Price Difference

#53

Post by brazzy »

kgermino wrote: post #52
brazzy wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

VAT is always listed separately in Europe as well (on the receipt) - it just has to be included in the advertised price.

How often do people actually read their receipt? It's good that they do have the charge listed but I still feel like most people are not aware how much of their bill went to the VAT whereas in general around here you can't possibly miss it.

I can only talk about Germany, and any change in VAT, be it the raise from 16 to 19% in 2007, or a recent cut to 7% for restaurants and hotels, generally gets a lot of publicity.

People may not be reminded about it constantly, but they are definitely aware of it.

Re: Steve Jobs Tells Germans to Blame Their Government for iPad Price Difference

#54

Post by vetinari »

rmc wrote: post #44

Apple always charges more for EU customers, usually replacing the $ for a €. When €1 = $1.50, I don't believe it's the tax, and instead feel like I'm getting screwed.

Why the downvotes?

Rmc is right. Go to Apple store, take a look at any Apple product and see for yourself.

For example, the 13" 2.4 GHz MBP is 1200 USD in US. In Europe, it is cca 1050 EUR _without_ VAT (cca 1250 EUR with VAT), which makes it around 1350 USD (and 1600 USD with VAT!). Nice 10% pre-tax price increase.

Re: Steve Jobs Tells Germans to Blame Their Government for iPad Price Difference

#55

Post by ugh »

bobbin wrote: post #16
ugh wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hell, yeah! And I’m happy about it. High taxes but a lot of bang for the buck.

until the debt get too high...

It seems to me that lowering taxes while not lowering spending is a distinctly American thing. Lowering spending is loathed by Americans and Europeans alike, but that’s arguably less of a problem if you also don’t always demand lower taxes. (I’m of course generalizing here, please take all I said with a grain of salt.)

Re: Steve Jobs Tells Germans to Blame Their Government for iPad Price Difference

#56

Post by X-Istence »

borism wrote: post #6
gaius wrote: post #3

EU governments sure do love their taxes.

US states sure do love theirs! down to every damn municipality. I hope Volcker will prevail and US will get VAT finally.

Actually, instead of a VAT tax, how about the US starts advertising the price of an item with the tax already calculated in? That way when I am going to the store and I buy a loaf of bread and it says $2.50 that is what I actually pay. Or when I go buy a new laptop for $499 that is ACTUALLY what I pay.

Shopping in The Netherlands where I am from is much simpler, I can keep a running tally in my head and not have to worry about getting to the register and having another X amount added on top because the local government wants their share, makes managing money so much more complicated.

Re: Steve Jobs Tells Germans to Blame Their Government for iPad Price Difference

#57

Post by anamax »

ugh wrote: post #8
gaius wrote: post #3

EU governments sure do love their taxes.

Hell, yeah! And I’m happy about it. High taxes but a lot of bang for the buck.

> And I’m happy about it. High taxes but a lot of bang for the buck.

Actually, the per-capita taxes in the EU are about the same as the per-capita taxes in the US. (That's dollars in taxes collected per person, not rates.)

There appear to be two differences - the per-capita GDP is much higher in the US (we have more money after taxes) and folks in the EU get better services for their money.

The latter suggests that giving the US govt more money isn't likely to be a good idea.

Re: Steve Jobs Tells Germans to Blame Their Government for iPad Price Difference

#58

Post by jacquesm »

anamax wrote: post #57
ugh wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hell, yeah! And I’m happy about it. High taxes but a lot of bang for the buck.

> And I’m happy about it. High taxes but a lot of bang for the buck. Actually, the per-capita taxes in the EU are about the same as the per-capita taxes in the US. (That's dollars in taxes collected per person, not rates.) There appear to be two differences - the per-capita GDP is much higher in the US (we have more money after taxes) and folks in the EU get better services for their money. The latter suggests that g…

The biggest single reason for that is the amount of money that the US spends on their 'defense', it is much higher than European countries on a per-capita basis.

Re: Steve Jobs Tells Germans to Blame Their Government for iPad Price Difference

#59

Post by anamax »

jacquesm wrote: post #58
anamax wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And I’m happy about it. High taxes but a lot of bang for the buck. Actually, the per-capita taxes in the EU are about the same as the per-capita taxes in the US. (That's dollars in taxes collected per person, not rates.) There appear to be two differences - the per-capita GDP is much higher in the US (we have more money after taxes) and folks in the EU get better services for their money. The latter suggests that g…

The biggest single reason for that is the amount of money that the US spends on their 'defense', it is much higher than European countries on a per-capita basis.

> The biggest single reason for that is the amount of money that the US spends on their 'defense', it is much higher than European countries on a per-capita basis.

The "about the same" numbers are federal spending only, of which about 15% is defense for the US. US state and local govts spend a bit less than the federal govt, but more than enough to swamp the defense numbers and push the per-capita tax burden in the US well over that of the typical EU country, where the "not national" govts don't spend nearly as much.

http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/

Re: Steve Jobs Tells Germans to Blame Their Government for iPad Price Difference

#60

Post by anamax »

anamax wrote: post #59
jacquesm wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The biggest single reason for that is the amount of money that the US spends on their 'defense', it is much higher than European countries on a per-capita basis.

> The biggest single reason for that is the amount of money that the US spends on their 'defense', it is much higher than European countries on a per-capita basis. The "about the same" numbers are federal spending only, of which about 15% is defense for the US. US state and local govts spend a bit less than the federal govt, but more than enough to swamp the defense numbers and push the per-capita tax burden in the U…

Note that there's some double-counting going on. Cities and states get a lot of money from the federal govt. That money is counted as both federal and state/local spending.
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