I, on the other hand, I love the EU. In spite of the fact that many products are sold for a lower price in the American market (not just electronics, also cars and others). I imagine it's even worse in the Australian market.
But, in the grand scheme of things, I can live with that, with free education and healthcare, among others.
But what kills me is when buying stuff from the US and paying whatever import taxes are required on top of shipping, and VAT on top of all that, you still end up cheaper.
Taking GP's example, shipping, taxes on the product + shipping won't end up more than doubling the initial price.
Hell, things are so ridiculous that a while ago I bought an Italian-made[0] tripod and gear head from BH in NY. Had it shipped by UPS (large and heavy parcel, so not cheap), paid taxes on the complete price, and it was still way cheaper than buying locally from France.
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[0] It pretends to be actually made in Italy, not only an Italian brand off-shoring production to Asia.
Your points are correct, but that's a general rebuff against photios' points: nothing is imposed by the EU itself; everything comes from the countries themselves, even if they all do the same thing.
However, I think photios' point was rather that EU countries tend to tax things to hell and back, even if the countries arrived at the same situation by their own means, rather than it being a general EU directive. dvfjsdhgfv's comment is the same: all the positive things in that comment come from the countries themselves; they're not EU directives, either.
That is not a EU-wide thing. If you are getting some of it in your country, enjoy it while it lasts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_health_care_by_count...
Either the EU is doing something wrong or the UK is doing something right or both.