France has 348 taxes, the UK has 90, and Germany only 60. We map all three tax systems and explore what drives tax complexity - and what the UK can learn.
The point is that everyone who does any kind of business needs to be aware of the taxes that are important to that tiny corner of business. The more individual ones exist, the more complicated it gets and the easier it is for everyone in the system to make mistakes - and that includes tax offices.
For example: Germany has at least five different taxes for alkohol and alcoholic drinks. They include a tax for beer, one for sparkling wine and one for mixtures made from soft drinks and alcoholic drinks. Now you need someone to classify each beverage by category and maybe a lawsuit or two to figure out exactly which is which.
There is this sparkling drinks tax introduced to finance the Kaisers navy. Which really is stupid to have and maybe should be abolished
There is the “Alcopop” tax which totally managed to kill this category of drinks as intended
So yeah, a little bit mixed. And i kind of disagree that this is too complicated. If you’re a supermarket or some kiosk, your supplier will provide you with the necessary information about the product. The Schaumweinsteuer, Biersteuer and Alcopop-Steuer are taxed directly at the producer level. Yes, you may need to deal with the beer tax when operation a brewery, but that really is not that complicated.
The point is that everyone who does any kind of business needs to be aware of the taxes that are important to that tiny corner of business. The more individual ones exist, the more complicated it gets and the easier it is for everyone in the system to make mistakes - and that includes tax offices. For example: Germany has at least five different taxes for alkohol and alcoholic drinks. They include a tax for beer, one for sparkling wine and one for mixtures made from soft drinks and alcoholic drinks. Now you need someone to classify each beverage by category and maybe a lawsuit or two to figure out exactly which is which.
That’s a perfect example:
So yeah, a little bit mixed. And i kind of disagree that this is too complicated. If you’re a supermarket or some kiosk, your supplier will provide you with the necessary information about the product. The Schaumweinsteuer, Biersteuer and Alcopop-Steuer are taxed directly at the producer level. Yes, you may need to deal with the beer tax when operation a brewery, but that really is not that complicated.