Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
But EU law has no jurisdiction outside the EU, surely? The EU doesn't have the ability to say to someone in the US "you must do something". If I buy something from a company that's not registered in the EU, they don't charge me VAT - it's my legal responsibility to pay it myself. I was certainly under the impression that EU VAT Directives only applied to a business in one EU member state selling to a customer in another member state.
|
They have the ability to litigate you to death and they are effectively threatening to do just that. The threat of fines is one they can carry out through the legal system and they are threatening *unlimited* fines.
The power of the state, any state, is the power to coerce.
Traditionally it has been through a monopoly of legal force (armies and policing forces) but modern states also have armies of lawyers (on retainer) at their command.
So make no mistake, if any EU tax collector wants to go after any small or even medium business in the US they *will* get their blood money one way or another. Treaties ensure they'll get their day in court and for many just getting on the docket will put them out of business. And that is before the injunctions start flying.