The EU Commission has ruled that mobility scooters are leisure vehicles and should be subject to the same 10% import duty as a racing car or camper van.
The average mobility scooter costs about £2,500 which means this new tax will add about £250 to the cost of a mobility scooter.
But why would the European Empire want to impose a tax on some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in society?
The tax, which follows a 2005 ruling by the World Customs Organisation, will raise £6million for the Government, estimates the Elizabeth Finn Care charity.
Ah yes, follow the money. The European Empire takes 75% of import duty collected by member states and calls it "traditional own resources". And of course import duties are one of the European Empire's most effective protectionist tools, keeping bloated and inefficient industries in the black at the expense of the consumer by adding punitive import duties to goods imported from outside the empire.
The European Empire decided last month to extend import duty on shoes imported from Asia, adding between 10% and 16.5% to the cost of importing shoes from China and Vietnam - a cost passed on to the consumer. Tariff's on shoes were introduced to protect Italian shoe makers who were struggling to sell their expensive shoes in competition with cheap imports from countries that aren't subjected to the expensive bureaucracy of the European Empire.
Energy saving light bulbs, which the European Empire has made compulsory, are subject to punitive import duties to protect the German manufacturer, Osram, which was slow to move from manufacturing incandescent bulbs and found itself unable to compete with Chinese bulb manufacturers who were already producing energy saving bulbs on a massive scale and free from the expensive bureaucracy of the European Empire.
Most mobility scooters are made outside of the European Empire, these import duties are just a protectionist scam to protect inefficient, uncompetitive European companies at the expense of disabled people who have no choice but to pay.
Stuart Parr is a 
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4 comments:
Even more reason as to why the EU will FALL!.
The more it blocks out the real world, the more it will harm not only itself but the people in side it!.
Thanks for that. Somebody asked me recently who got the import duties and I had to admit I didn't know (although I suppose I should have been able to guess).
You suggest that it is being introduced, however I thought it was already in force - introduced July of this year.
The Daily Express yesterday reported on fresh attempts by Bill Wilson MSP to try to overturn it.
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/148073/Outrage-at-250-tax-on-mobility-scooters-
Steve, we'll have to make the EU fall - it won't happen by itself, regardless of its cock-ups.
The EU is the world government crucible. I.e., it is backed by raw power.
It's hard for us to believe this is happening but then, so much of what has happened over the past decade has been "incredible".
Incompetence had nothing to do with it.
The grassroots must make it fail.
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