What Does the EU VAT Actually Tax?

Abstract

The EU VAT system does not tax every type of consumption. Conversely, socially desirable services and financial services are only taxed on their production. From the structure of the EU VAT system and the objectives of the EU treaties, but also from the ECJ case law and empirical observations, it appears that the EU VAT is intended not to tax production as far it has an impact on cross-border transactions in an internal market. Therefore, “single general sales tax” or GST would be an appellation closer of the reality of this tax system.