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#vat

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@dec_hl I think something like an #App #curator site that allows #filtering / has said filters set by default as a "#SafeSearch" would be propably best...

Not to mention it'll get #downranked and #shadowbanned from both platfirms pretty quickly.

@Remittancegirl @pgiulan Since long before Trump even entered politics, or #Palantir existed, I've been convinced that #surveillance, not revenue generation, was the real reason for #IncomeTax on working-class individuals (as opposed to plutocrats and corporations). There are many other ways to generate revenue, such as #VAT and #LandValueTax, or just income taxation limited to corporations and very wealthy individuals. But those wouldn't enable the monitoring of everyone's economic life the way population-wide income taxation does.

Not that any of this needs explaining to anyone with half a brain, but it is a nice precis of the #economic illiteracy emanting from the White House at the moment.

The interpretation of #VAT -- a local non-discriminatory #tax paid on domestically produced goods *and* foreign #imports alike -- as a 'tariff' is simply deranged!

Trump’s ‘idiotic’ and flawed #tariff calculations stun economists
theguardian.com/us-news/2025/a #Trump #WhiteHouse #economics

The Guardian · Trump’s ‘idiotic’ and flawed tariff calculations stun economistsBy Richard Partington
Continued thread

#Trump claims that many countries have targeted the #US w/ “non-monetary barriers,” like currency manipulation, subsidies, exorbitant taxes & theft of intellectual property.

Trump specifically talked about the #EuropeanUnion’s value-added tax, which he has long despised. #VAT rates are common outside of the United States, & the U.S. is actually an outlier for not having one.