Interview today. Fast Forward to 13:17 First, Paul Ryan has been suggesting to congress a 20% across the board VAT tax, but Donald Trump is claiming support of a reciprocal tax. That means we charge countries the same tax on what other countries charge to us. If that's what happens, then this is what we can expect: Italy: Ducati, Aprilia, Brembo, Lightech, Dainese, Arrow, Sidi, Alpinestar, BMC, AiM, etc, 5-20% (duties) + 22% (VAT) Sweden: Öhlins, etc, 2-14% (duties) + 25% (VAT) Austria: KTM, Rotax, etc, 3.5-15% (duties) + 20% (VAT) Japan: Kawasaki, Suzuki, Honda, Yamaha, Arai, Shoei, Sato, Zeta, etc, 5-7% (Consumption) Slovenia: Akrapovic, Rotobox, etc, 0-20% (duties) + 22% (VAT) UK: Triumph, GPR, Febur, Dymag, GB Racing, Samco, Nova, R&G, Renthal, KTech, MSS Performance, etc, 0-15% (duties) + 20% (VAT) Germany: BMW, 5-17% (duties) + 7.19% (VAT) Australia: MoTeC, etc, 0-17.5% (duties) + 10% (GST) Canada: Armour Bodies, etc, 0-20% (duties) + 5% (GST) What won't be affected: USA: Vortex, Driven, Penske, Evol Technology, Hotbodies, Bazzaz, Dynojet, Attack Performance, Apex, Chicken Hawk, Cox Racing, Pit Bull, Hindle, Shorai, Graves, Bell, Woodcraft, etc.
Oh well. Regardless of the percentage, we should have equal trade. We can't keep being the world's financial crutch.
Just a heads up to all, as I wasn't entirely clear on this, I presented this info for one main reason: To help provide a template so everyone can prioritize their purchases in the immediate future. Because it's somewhat political, I chose to put it here. But trust, it's far more to do with bikes than politics. On a political point of view, I think it has it's pluses and minuses. I agree with some points and disagree with others. Overall, I think the intent here is an honorable one. And it will most certainly happen. The Dems support moar taxes so will give little to no pushback. I suspect that there will be more Republicans against this than Dems, but far fewer than needed to keep this from happening.
I don't believe it is a democrat/republican voting issue. I believe it will be an issue as to what corporation is lining the politicians pockets to determine how they vote on this.
Its like leaving 50 mutts in the house and then trying to guess which one will shit there. They all will. Duh.
On its surface it is a negotiation ploy. Drop your tax and we'll drop ours. It may very well work for countries that sell heavily in the US....China, Japan, Korea...may work in Germany. All others would be afraid of getting swamped by the US and since they still buy a lot from the US it would just amount to a loss of tax revenue for them. The question becomes can we up our sales to the "fair trade" countries? Bottom line (for me) is it's a one way street now so what's to lose.
It seems to me that all those companies from overseas, listed above, have made a crap ton of money over the years from us and the bikes/parts haven't gotten any cheaper over this time. Assuming it's true that the bulk of them charge/tax American companies/products as high as he's saying....then yea, F that....it's time we stop letting our competition continue to grow at enormous numbers as our companies continue to diminish.
I'm all for it. Fair trade is fair trade. Time to even the playing field. The world needs more Harley's.
HD people will pay whatever. I believe the saying goes 'Turning gas into noise without the harmful side effect of horse power for over 100 years"
Mexico...I've tried to understand the VAT that Mexico uses and how that affects imports into Mexico from the US. After reading about a dozen articles I'm totally confused. I know the President argued during the election that they essentially charged 16% import tax on US goods and the US was 0% on Mexican goods coming into the country. Forbes called this as BS. Others said it was true. Which is it? Any economists here?
Honestly, I'm all for it. Decades of hugely unbalanced trade has led to more Chinese millionaires and billionaires than pretty much anywhere in the world and is probably the number one reason for the huge decline standard of living in US and Canada. We have been sending truckloads of $$$ for decades, money that is no longer in the economic circulation of the US
Uhh, no. The huge decline in us standard of living (laughable premise, BTW) is due to the economic forces behind our counterfeited currency...
^ So you don't think the lack of taxation on imports hasn't negatively affected our standard of living in one way or another?
When did our standard of living go down anyway? All the poor people I know have cable and cell phones and cars and so on, that sure as hell isn't the same as when I was younger and poorer...
I think standard of living has stayed high but more are willing to use credit to maintain it. I know I have less disposable income than I did 10 years ago.
Health Care and wage stagnation = less spending power. But you probably still have a smart phone, HS internet and some form of pay TV.
I think a dollar worth 2 cents trying to buy the cheapest shit China can plagiarize and fill container ships with is a bigger cause of this fictitious "lowered standard of living".