Fucking Postnord and their import VAT grift. 8kr of actual tax owed, 75 kr for the privilege of handling it. That's what happens when you privatise your tax collection systems, I guess.
Which means, in essence, that if someone from a non-EU country sends me a paperback for review, and fills in the value declaration honestly, I basically end up paying the retail price for it; there's no carve-out for commercial samples, unless you're a big enough firm to have your own tax department.
I'll admit I'm no business genius, but from the state's POV, allowing a middleman to make a 90% profit on handling the collection of such tiny tax amounts is surely an indicator of massive market failure... unless, of course, you've concluded (or been convinced) that Postnord would go under without this lucrative scam to keep the wheels greased.
Late-late capitalism, ladies and gents. It's no wonder we're all confused and exhausted.
@PaulGrahamRaven
As far as I know PostNord stocks are owned only by the Swedish and Danish states, so I think this is more the case of a neoliberal project that didn't reach all the way to the "enrich the private capital lobby" and just sort of stalled in a weird transition phase.
