ShmoopTube

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finance a la shmoop what is the eighty or VAT well it's this what okay then I

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never mind Breaking Bad was awesome though anyway in finance land VAT or V.A.T[Car drives by financeland sign]

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stands for value-added tax and it is simply a consumption tax like the tax

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rate on anything you buy in Massachusetts is say ten percent so you

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think that car cost thirty grand no it was thirty three grand and you'll pay [Car on a driveway]

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other v.a.t.s like a tax for your license plate registration and other

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stuff note that the V and the A in their value-added yeah and it's a fair

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question to ask value-added for whom and the answer is the government the taxman [Uncle Sam poster appears on wall]

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v80 tax is that three dollar gallon of gas at the same rate for Bill Gates as

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it does for Joe Sixpack it is a regressive tax that is rich in poor

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people all pay the same rate and yes Bill Gates jet probably uses more gas [Bill Gates stood by a jet]

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than does Joe six-packs but the rate per gallon is the same and this causes

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controversy among various political factions who feel that it's wrong to tax [Political figures speaking on stage]

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the poor at the same rate as the rich well when it comes to income tax the

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rich are taxed vastly more not just in volumes of dollars taxed because they

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earn more money but in the rate of tax applied like let's punish those

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hard-working plumbing parts suppliers and reward the guy who's asleep at the [People using laptop on benches]

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tollgate taking the five bucks like someone in a blue state making thirty

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grand a year pays fifteen percent tax on their last dollar someone making 500

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grand pays like fifty cents or half so over time a number of politicians have

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suggested that v80 should somehow have an income level overlay that is the

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buyer of a given gallon of gas should state what income tax bracket they're in [Man unscrewing gas knob]

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when they go to the gas pump and that for Bill Gates that gallon should cost [Gas pump filling up car]

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like thirty eight dollars whereas for the Union Tollbooth worker yeah wake up

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there buddy five bucks each time well they only have to pay two dollars for

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their gallon of gas fair not fair well ask the toll booth guy

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you know when he wakes up [Toll both man sleeping]

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