And lo on Sun, 06 Jul 2008 08:04:18 +0100, Warp <war### [at] tagpovrayorg> did  
spake, saying:

>   And do you even know how much gasoline/diesel costs here? An American
> would drop his jaw into the ground if he saw it. Translated to the US
> units, gasoline is about 9.5 dollars/gallon, and diesel is 8.3.

Due to some of the strikes here unleaded blipped up to £1.99/litre which  
at the time was $14.83/US gallon. At the moment it's about $8.88/US gallon

>   Oh, and cars cost almost double what they cost, for example, in Germany
> because of all the taxes. (In Germany, IIRC, a tax of 16% is put on the
> price of sold cars, while in Finland it's something like 96%.)

17.5% standard VAT here on new cars.

>   Not only that, you have to pay mandatory annual car insurance (good
> thing, I suppose)

Ditto

> as well as a mandatory annual car tax (you receive
> nothing in return, it's a *pure* tax for simply *owning* a car, without
> any benefits).

Supposedly here it goes towards the upkeep of the road and the licencing  
authority; ha.

>   Own a TV (or, for that matter, any device capable of decoding TV
> signal)? Tax.

Hmm more specific here - tax is only on devices that can play programmes  
that have been broadcast - so if you buy a small TV to hook up to your  
security camera you don't need a TV licence for it.

> Own a house? Tax.

Ditto.

> Own land? Tax.

Ditto.

> Inherit some money or property from a relative? Tax.

Depends on the amount inherited.

> Win a car abroad and want to bring it
> to Finland? You'll have to pay almost the original price of the car
> in taxes.

Yep Customs and Excise want their slice here too.

>   And if you think you'll get rid of the RIAA by moving to Finland, guess
> again. (Ok, the situation might still not be *so* bad here, but it's
> quickly going in that direction.)

We [heart] RIAA

>   On the plus side, you'll usually get a fast broadband internet  
> connection for a quite moderate price here.

Depends on where you are and your definition of fast.

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

Post a reply to this message