I feel like Guardian articles beginning like this are maybe not establishing the writer's socialist credentials as a hard-working representative of the people, sharing the common daily struggles of ordinary folks, as the writer perhaps thinks
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2021/mar/22/bike-poland-brexit-customs-duty-vat
<< I find myself in a Kafkaesque situation as a result of Brexit. I decided, over Christmas, to treat myself to a new £5,000 racing bicycle, but the only place I could source it was a shop in Poland. >>
Oh. That's very sad, yes.
seriously how the HECK can you even SPEND five thousand pounds on a bike?
I can buy an entire car for less than that.
It won't be a Tesla, but it will be an actual whole car.
@natecull i'm more curious as to how they managed to not pay VAT on their £5k bike in the first place, given that on the date they bought it, VAT should have been charged and collected (and documented as such) in Poland, at Polish rates
seems like someone was trying a fiddle and got caught out, tbh
@thamesynne @natecull At least in Finland custom charges VAT on items regardless id it has been paid in country of origin or not. (Of course, not for Poland since Finland is still in EU.)
