Of shipowners and taxes | 75 comments (75 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Of shipowners and taxes (4.00 / 7)

This is bullshit. Plain foul smelling bullshit from Junker.

It was not up to the local governments to "make soup out of chicken nails".

Here in Portugal, the Troika actually spent time (God knows how much) discussing if chocolate milk, something that unfortunately is a stable in children's diet, should be taxed at 13% or 23% VAT!!!
That is how deep they went in order to have control of the austerity measures.

This could have been a joke but it aint funny in my book.

by Euroliberal on Thu Jun 14th, 2012 at 08:09:05 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Of shipowners and taxes (4.00 / 2)

That is how deep they went in order to have control of the austerity measures.

And, I gather, the Portuguese have complied well with these 'recommended' measures, so how successful have the Troika's measures been in generating the revenue to pay back the loan?

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Thu Jun 14th, 2012 at 09:35:26 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Of shipowners and taxes (4.00 / 3)

Oh... they sure did. They just love to be caled the "good students".

As for the result, (please act surprised) VAT revenues fell, consumption crashed, businesses closing by the thousands and unemployment soaring. Other than that, austerity is a huge success.

by Euroliberal on Thu Jun 14th, 2012 at 11:14:18 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Of shipowners and taxes (4.00 / 2)

I am so surprised.

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Thu Jun 14th, 2012 at 01:13:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Of shipowners and taxes (none / 0)

staggering, huh?

The power of knowledge is in mortal combat with the knowledge of power. It really is that simple... That's the Edenic apple we are all munching on.

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Thu Jun 14th, 2012 at 08:38:54 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Of shipowners and taxes (none / 0)

I'm shocked, shocked, to find that crashing is going on here.

by rifek on Sun Jun 17th, 2012 at 02:27:01 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Of shipowners and taxes (4.00 / 4)

Here in Portugal, the Troika actually spent time (God knows how much) discussing if chocolate milk, something that unfortunately is a stable in children's diet, should be taxed at 13% or 23% VAT!!!

As insane as US taxing policies are, do prefer that food staples aren't subject to sales tax. That said, it's a measure of how far we've strayed from need to "want" that chocolate milk is considered a staple instead of an occasional treat.

by Marie2 on Thu Jun 14th, 2012 at 12:26:08 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Of shipowners and taxes (none / 0)

Sales tax on food is not a bad tax actually. After we cut our sales tax on food from 25% to 12%, studies showed that the main benefactors were consumers of luxury foodstuffs. Better to cut taxes on low incomes!

Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.

by Starvid on Sun Jun 17th, 2012 at 04:48:07 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Of shipowners and taxes (none / 1)

Why not eliminate taxes on the sale of all fruits and vegetables? That would be a good beginning point.

by sgr2 on Sun Jun 17th, 2012 at 11:42:02 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Of shipowners and taxes (4.00 / 2)

Differentiated VAT has non-trivial administrative overhead.

- Jake

Austerity can only be implemented in the shadow of a concentration camp.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Sun Jun 17th, 2012 at 12:45:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Of shipowners and taxes (none / 0)

No sales tax on food in your jurisdiction, perhaps, but not here.

by rifek on Sun Jun 17th, 2012 at 02:53:11 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Of shipowners and taxes (none / 1)

Euroliberal:

Here in Portugal, the Troika actually spent time (God knows how much) discussing if chocolate milk, something that unfortunately is a stable in children's diet, should be taxed at 13% or 23% VAT!!!

it's the reagan 'ketchup counts as a vegetable' movie again!

it's the pettifogging quality that is so anal, that they really are that miserably shrivelled of mind beggars belief.

no wonder they make money and power their gods, it's a massive compensation.

my currency's harder than yours! it's the emotional maturity level of 12-year old boys in a locker-room, developmentally arrested, while the morally stunted adult parts of their consciousness obsess with how much they can torture the food out of their own neighbours' children to keep another penny in their wallets.

our dystopia is their crackers and caviar.

these people are seriously disturbed psychopaths who have bribed the guards and stolen the keys to the asylum.

their speeches about reform and such are ringing ever hollower, as the sting of poverty makes more discerning political watchers and of all the under- and unemployed people curious as to exactly how neoliberal economics has brought a successfully harmonious postwar continent to its bloody knees in only 40 years!

with the moon of international discontent waxing brightly before our semi-blinded eyes, you know this tide will turn.

just a question of when and how.

just...

The power of knowledge is in mortal combat with the knowledge of power. It really is that simple... That's the Edenic apple we are all munching on.

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Thu Jun 14th, 2012 at 08:05:33 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Of shipowners and taxes (4.00 / 4)

This is anecdotal and perhaps besides the point, but I just spent 5 days in Paris eating red meat at every meal (because I try to avoid it in the USA) and copious amounts of red wine. I drank more than a bottle one night (I'm tall and can handle it). I never once suffered the migraines and other assorted side effects I suffer in the USA when I eat red meat and drink red wine. No hangover even. Not once, and I was practically on a binge. Red food dyes injected into meat and all the preservatives in red wine in America show me how toxic our food chain is, and though they may be necessary for wine in the USA, it still shows how these chemicals can impact the human body.

by Upstate NY on Fri Jun 15th, 2012 at 09:02:55 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Of shipowners and taxes (none / 1)

You could allow yourself to eat red meat (baaaad!) and drink red wine (goooood!) more often if they were organic. Even in the USA. I can attest to the improvement in the headache factor with respect to French organic vs. "conventional" wines.

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue
- Queen Elizabeth II}

by eurogreen on Fri Jun 15th, 2012 at 09:36:09 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Of shipowners and taxes (none / 0)

I will start looking for it. The problem is that I only drink red wine at social affairs or dinners related to work when the choice of wine is not mine. Almost all of the upscale restaurants around here do not note or stock organic wines.

As for red meat, I binged because I try not to make it a habit. And, the meals in Paris were really really cheap compared to the USA, and so was the wine.

by Upstate NY on Fri Jun 15th, 2012 at 10:07:02 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Of shipowners and taxes | 75 comments (75 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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