Yes, you’re looking at ~92% tax right there. Final price jumped from ~113 dollars (584BRL) to ~220 dollars.
EDIT: A bit of clarification, when buying from abroad there’s a flat 60% federal tax if the thing + shipping price surpasses 50 dollars. Then there’s a state tax that can vary between 17-25%, which goes on top of the total taxed value. Part of the tax is literally “tax of a tax”
Pakistan coming in with 50% phone tax +
18%25% luxury item sales tax + 50% customs duty + 7% service fee + cash money you need to bribe customs to release your package + shipping & handlingAnd I thought I had it bad in Germany (knew about brazilian already) with shipping + 19% import tax + 6€ import handling by DHL.
Fortunately no 6€ handling fee for sellers using IOSS, like AliExpress.
19% import tax
That’s import VAT, that is, if you import something they want to make sure that you’re paying the same 19% VAT as if someone else had imported it and then sold to you. Doesn’t apply to stuff under 22 Euro as the paperwork would cost them more than you owe.
There’s also import tariffs though most stuff, and in particular most electronics, don’t have any tariff applied, these are EU single market tariffs and not German in particular. The currently largest one seems to be e-bikes from specifically China, a total of 80% as an anti-dumping measure. Under usual circumstances tariffs tend to be under 20%, shoes with uppers from stuff other than leather about 17%, 10% on cars, 4% on leather clothing, lots of such stuff.
AliExpress really has that stuff figured out, they’re not fighting it any more, tons of issues in the past with Chinese sellers mis-labelling stuff to “save me money” which only meant that they got shitbinned by the Zoll and every single one of their parcels intercepted and inspected. They now have warehouses in the EU and do all the import handling when stocking them which means that the customer doesn’t have to interact with customs at all and orders arrive in a day or three.
In these areas where bribes are so commonplace for all manner of interactions I just can’t help but wonder how it goes on so long without anyone being desperate enough and wild enough to just pull a gun or a knife and basically say, “My bribe payment to you is just do your damn job and I let you live.”
Or I guess maybe that does happen and then those people get disappeared.
In India, usually they don’t demand a bribe. They will process your file slowly, with the understanding that you can speed it up by bribing them.
From what I understand, Pakistan does not properly regulate weapons. But it would still be rather stupid to threaten a public servant. If you are that sort of person, smiling at the official and remarking on his good health might be a better idea. A less aggressive trick is to let them think that you are from the press / have a camera or microphone / have marked currency.
Have you heard that concept from sociology that the state, through its officials and representatives, holds exclusive rights to legitimately use violence?
I guess this is supposed to stop you guys from buying stuff in USD, right?
From buying stuff from abroad in general. If it’s imported, it can be taxed. Before Haddad (current economy minister), it was a gamble whether you’d be taxed or not, most of the time you weren’t. Now, “to combat contraband”, Aliexpress gave the thumbs up to this fucking stupid idea.
Oh yeah great idea. To combat black market activity, let’s make the open market extremely expensive to use.
I think the real irony is that, up to 1993, it’s safe to say 99% of all computers we had here were contraband, because the taxes back then were even more absurd. Never mind the hyperinflation of the time.
You say that, but there’s effectively no black market for imports like PC parts.
Well that’s certainly not a result of these taxes
Worked at a trade expo years ago. Talked to Brazilians. Another issue they ran into is corruption.
They were doing their best to temporarily export stuff to Europe, but there were endless delays in Brazil, and sudden and unforseen ‘extra fees’ that needed to be paid to get stuff out of the country.
Guy wasn’t even angry anymore. Just sad. His fellow countrymen were undermining a Brazilian business out of sheer greed.
Incredibly short sighted too.
Incredibly shortsighted too
That’s business. Cash now. The rest is fuck you, cash now.
That’s not business, that’s corruption. They’re not generating any added value like business does, they’re parasiting on it.
That’s just capitalism, then
It is not, as government agencies are not for profit profit organisations de iure. On top of that it’s violating law, and debfacto stealing from both the citizen and potentially from the state itself. You can’t just throw ‘capitalism bad’ on any observation of shitty socio-economic behaviour.
Don’t blindly believe everything people tell you. Quite often, the reason why these “entrepreneurs” have to pay bribes is because they didn’t go through official channels and/or don’t have the necessary permits to operate.
This whole thread is best of Lemmy material but especially your comment!
I.E. you’re saying you’re okay with tax fraud, is that right?
Brazil’s government heavily pushes for things to be made there. A place I worked several years ago had an office there for some final assembly or something for products sold there.
Thats a lie. This policy was negotiated mostly with the burgeouis resellers.
We have NO concrete plan to actually industrialize.
Dude, Argentina recently updated this from 100% tax to 155%. We literally pay more to the government than the full price. And this is for every purchase, no matter the amount. Be thankful that your shitty politicians are less shitty than ours, you could be worse.
“Be happy about your horrible situation because there are more horrible situations out there” is such a shitty take.
Basically you’re saying “unless you’re the single most unfortunate person on the planet, maybe even throughout all of human history, you should be happy”, which is obviously nonsense.
Fallacy of relative privation (informal fallacy) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies
Be thankful and be happy are different things. “Wow, I’m thankful I’m not that fucked up like the guy over there. I should take steps to totally get away from the path that leads to that place.”
It’s like looking your future self in a mirror, you still can do something to get away from that bad omen.
Well said, he literally misquoted you to get upset about nothing. Hope things get better for you guys over there.
…I’m sure that dude that just got in charge will sort it out soon shudders
lol, I genuinely don’t know if this is advanced sarcasm, good one
You mean the libertarian one? The anarcho-capitalist?
That is insane
Have those tariffs been successful at building a domestic source for these kinds of things?
Not even close.
When the impostos is sus
Denmark. I bought something from the US. About 300 DKK. I had to pay for shipping. About 300 DKK. I had to pay the toll. I had to pay a mandatory 120 DKK fee for the postal service to charge the toll. I had to pay taxes on the fee. I had to pay taxes on the purchase. I had to pay taxes on the shipping.
In the end I paid about 1000 DKK for a 300 DKK package.
Here in the US, I bought a used school bus to convert into a skoolie and I paid $3600 for it. To register it as a motorhome I had to pay a 6% tax, so $216 dollars, and that was it. I know of a few people in Europe who bought similarly-priced US buses and had them shipped over. For buses that cost around $4000, they had to pay that amount again for shipping and then double that amount for the various taxes and import fees, so a $4K bus cost them $15K to $20K.
Danish citizens and most Europeans get a lot for their tax money and fees. Not least peace of mind and a well-functioning society that actually makes it possible to live and not just survive.
I know it’s easy to complain, but as someone who lives in the US, I’d be thrilled to live in such a society. I don’t have any more money left over for myself even with the slightly lower taxes. I just have to pay out of pocket for everything.
I would have guessed burning alive in Rio was the reason it would suck to be Brazilian
Rio is nowhere as bad as half the rest of the territory in matters of extreme heat. Mato Grosso, Amazonia and Pará are frequently way worse, and also where the majority of illegal forest fires for land clearing happen.
And they don’t even get to speak Brazilian. They have to speak Portuguese.
And I would not want to deal with the waxing, either.
Is that some sort of import tax or an absolutely insane sales tax?
Federal import tax, plus state tax based on the total value with the federal tax
I was part of a Reddit gift exchange ages ago, before they separated domestic from international. I had to ship a $30 coffee mug to Brazil and it cost $220. Oof.
laughs in Argentina
It can always be worse
Tell them to mark it as a gift, works around here 🤷.
My Pine64 order wasn’t marked as a gift, and it turned up at my door completely untaxed 😳
Hows the pinephone working for you?
Ohhh it wasn’t a Pinephone I ordered, it was a Pinecil v2 and a bunch of accessories and stuff for it. Sorry I should have been clearer lol.
The pinecil is absolutely amazing so far, however the included stock tip is pretty rubbish, doesn’t distribute heat too well. The optional extra ones are much better. The whole thing is deceptively small, I thought it was going to be much larger!
Nah you are good, it was me that assumed. I’m glad to hear it is amazing! I’ve been wanted to get a pinecil too. Good to know the optional tips are worth it!
Have you tried this trick before?
Customs officers hate him because of this one weird trick!
They do, they really do 😂. There is this one gal, Melanie, she calls me personally to ask me “how long do you plan on doing this 😒… eventually you’re gonna get caught 😒” 🤣🤣🤣. I just say “I have no idea what you’re talking about, I just have a lot of relatives in wherever” 🤣🤣🤣.
Yep, works on the Balkans 👍.
They can’t charge you for anything, since they’d have to check if it’s really a gift or not, and they’d rather sit on their asses than do that 😂.
This used to work in Europe for a very long time, only recently they clamped down on it and asked to declare the value on gifts too
That is insane, it’s literally a robbery
Graças a Deus comprei meu RPi 4b na pandemia. Paguei só os 600 com case, cartão de memória 64gb, fonte e cabo HDMI.
On the other hand, in the USA I bought a MikroTik CRS312 12-port 10Gbps network switch from a Latvian online store (Getic) for ~$500 plus $20 shipping, and didn’t have to pay any import duties/taxes because it’s under the $800/day duty-free limit. Way cheaper than buying it in the USA, where the same item is commonly $600 + taxes.
Australia is similar and has a $1000 duty-free limit, however online stores that have a lot of Australian customers do need to charge Australia sales tax (GST) of 10%. It can still end up cheaper, so there’s still a lot of grey imports in Australia (which is where you buy products that are available in Australia from an online store in a different country because it’s cheaper).
