Hacker News Reader

Comment by hhtest | Hacker News Reader

Actually, the gov is taking actions and it's quite strict. One example is, my friend's bank account was AUTOMATICALLY withdrawn a couple hundred RMB from last month, to pay the tax AUTOMATICALLY.

Lived in the US for a couple of years, I can't imagine IRS doing that to my bank account

Also, to the @awsedr58479 's question: Chinese consumption tax is crazily high. Most people don't know they are paying it since it's structured into the price tag. Also the companies are paying quite a lot of taxes

View on HN

16% VAT isn't that high to my knowledge.

As seen in other comments, middle classes are the one who will likely pay the most. Lots of "legit" companies/workers are paying income taxes; they represent the 2%.

The left often argue that VAT is a regressive tax, with "poor" (by which they mean low income, not low wealth) people paying more as a percentage of their income than "rich" people.

I'm not entirely sure why, given the number of basic items that don't attract vat (rent, train fares, food).

Buy a new car though and you're paying tons.

Because the % of income spent on goods decreases as earnings increate.

Many high-earners aren't 'spending' their money, they're investing it to make more money

Whereas low-earners are spending their pay cheque before the next one arrives.

When living in London I had the council re-open a direct debit on my bank account and effectively withdraw a few hundred pounds towards a council tax bill. I was in a dispute with the council as I didn't believe I was liable any longer and cancelled the direct debit which had been paying the tax each month. They disagreed and re-opened it without my knowledge or consent. I looked into it and there are a number of institutions that they allow to open a direct debit without proper permission from the account holder, particularly if there has previously been a direct debut on the account. Councils are one, but also large energy companies, phone companies etc.

Out of interest, did you keep a note of where there was information claiming certain entities have the right to continue pulling money after the Direct Debit was cancelled?

As far as I'm aware, no organisation has the right to reinstate a Direct Debit on your account without your permission when it has been closed [1]. If you gave notice to your bank that it should be cancelled, and payment was still collected without your subsequent authorisation, you should have been able to request a refund directly from your bank [2].

[1] https://www.directdebit.co.uk/DirectDebitExplained/Pages/Can...

[2] https://www.directdebit.co.uk/DirectDebitExplained/Pages/Can...

16% VAT is lower than the EU: "Different rates of VAT apply in different EU member states, ranging from 17% in Luxembourg to 27% in Hungary". [1] The minimum rate in the EU is 15%, but of the 'primary goods' (e.g. food) the minimum rate is 5%. [2]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union_value_added_tax...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value-added_tax#Around_the_wor...

but of the 'primary goods' (e.g. food) the minimum rate is 5%

Food is zero rated in the UK.

I agree, except hot food. Also children's clothes and toiletry type stuff.

I seem to recall there was a thing about sanitary towels that needed a law change in Brussels, in order for us to zero rate them.

Edit: From the GPs reference "requires a minimum standard rate of 15% and one or two reduced rates not to be below 5%. Some EU members have a 0% VAT rate on certain supplies; these states would have agreed this as part of their EU Accession Treaty"

So its possible the GPs country doesn't allow zero rated VAT.

Legacy exemption because it existed before EU entry. No additional products can be zero-rated now. (Which is why the UK tabloid press is upset about "EU's sexist tampon tax"...)

> my friend's bank account was AUTOMATICALLY withdrawn a couple hundred RMB from last month, to pay the tax AUTOMATICALLY.

That's just the primary way to pay income tax in China. People usually don't file tax returns on their own. Their employers calculate the tax they should pay and deduct from their salary automatically

The government withdrawing money from someone's bank account is something entirely different and more invasive than the employer deducting it before sending it to the bank account.

consumption tax is 17% in China, and yes, the tax not listed on price tag, actually print consumption tax on price tag is not allowed in a certain degree...

Many people in China don't know this consumption tax, and some may say "I don't pay any tax to gov" and of cause it's not true.

Consumption tax is not high, actually quite low with 16%. (Not counting the USA, a country so allergic to tax they rather go back to gravel roads before maintaining their highways.)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com