quote
follow
Where I live the 20% VAT (value-added tax) is included with every freaking purchase you make. Bread, water, sugar - 20 percent being added to their price. Isn't it just crazy? At least products of first necessity should be free of that tax, or have the lower tax.
In some countries, like Sweden for example, high taxes may be a way of insuring the general welfare benefits, like free universal healthcare or education, support for people with disabilities, etc., but in Ukraine 20% tax is collected only to evaporate later. Where it goes - no one knows. Like with all other payments to government institutions. Not mentioning the inflation at around 9% which is a hidden tax in and of itself.
Sometimes you forget that all the goods you buy include that 20 percent extra in their price, But recently, after ordering a whole lot of things online and later looking at the bill which was specifically showing the price with and without the VAT, I began to realize how much our government is draining from each and every person daily, giving hardly anything in return. Imagine, you buy products for 500 UAH, and pay 100 UAH taxes. You don't have a choice: wanna eat - pay the government. That government that does not guarantee anything in return: no free education, or healthcare, no functioning justice and law-enforcement systems, no up-to-date military, and no freaking lighthouses on the streets in many cases)) You pay 20% to keep the corrupt, rotting system going. Sad, eh?
More posts from this category: Trying to party...'Life a cheat' by John Dryden