Quote:
Originally Posted by wgrimm
Just had to comment on this- what an example of big govt. in action. You can buy an "illegal" bottle of Bell's, which I believe is distilled in Scotland, at a cheaper price if re-imported from France, which I presume has already had French taxes paid on it. Frankly, I think the solution here is for your govt. to reduce their taxes.
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It's just one of those things - the UK has always had high taxes on alcohol and cigarettes, and France has had lower taxes. On the other hand, the general rate of VAT is 19.6% in France, compared with 17.5% in the UK. The tax on cigarettes is deliberately very high in the UK as a means of trying to encourage people to stop smoking. It's an approach which appears to be working.
The different countries of the EU all tax things in slightly different ways, but the overall tax burden works out pretty similar in the end.