When I saw this announcement, I had fully expected these new features to be included as standard - I was a bit surprised when I saw they were charging for them.

That said, I think the pricing is well worth it if you're selling B2C. EU VAT is complicated, and I presume state-level sales tax in the US is too.

If you're selling B2B in the EU however, then all you really need to do it collect and validate VAT registration numbers. Now, the EU API for this is pretty crappy, and has a ridiculously low rate limit - but still, it's not difficult to do. Indeed, I did it in a few hours when I was setting up Stripe for a B2B micro-ISV one or two years ago. I actually think that VAT ID validation should be included as standard - not chargeable.