Ivysaur
Grass dinosaur extraordinaire
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- Madrid, Europe
- Seen May 4, 2024
Not really.
Ireland has 15% VAT, Germany has 19% VAT, and Netherlands has 21% VAT.
Game prices in all 3 countries are equally € 40,- for, let's say, Pokémon X.
So Nintendo gets more money from Irish games and less from Hungarian ones (27%). The thing is, 21 European countries can be found in a VAT bracket of 20-23%, and the European custom is including it in the prices, so that's what they do, so that's why European prices seem higher. Average US sales tax is much lower and the custom is not including it in the prices, so that's why they seem cheaper (and, indeed, are- but not in such a large proportion). In the end, we are comparing after-taxes prices (EU) to tax-free ones (US), so the comparison is not strictly fair.
It's true that some European countries have smaller VAT rates, as you mentioned (and some have fairly larger ones too, such as Sweden, Norway or Iceland -25%- or the aforementioned Hungary), but, talking averages, the difference in before-taxes prices across the pond is not that different.