Courtesy of Mish.
If you are looking for solid reasons why the UK should kiss the EU goodbye, then I can provide one: Brussels acts over garlic tax.
The European Commission is taking Britain to court in a battle over an unpaid bill of millions of pounds in duty on imports of garlic.
The European Commission announced legal action after an ultimatum to pay £15m to Brussels or face action in the European Court of Justice expired.
The wrangle is over the fact that import tariffs on frozen garlic from outside the EU are lower than the rates for fresh garlic.
And, according to the Commission, UK authorities carelessly levied the lower rate applicable to frozen garlic on imports of the fresh product from China, in breach of EU customs rules.
All customs duties charged on imports of goods coming from a non-EU country are collected by member states on behalf of the EU and paid to the common EU budget as part of each member state’s annual contributions.
One quarter of the total raised from such duties is held back by the national authority to cover collection costs.
A Commission statement explained: “Between 2005 and 2006, the UK customs authorities allowed imports of fresh garlic from the People’s Republic of China, erroneously stating that it was frozen garlic, subject to significantly lower import duties than fresh garlic.
Nannyzone Nonsense
For starters, there should be no tariffs on garlic at all, fresh, frozen, freeze dried, or otherwise. This is not just about garlic. This is about agricultural tariffs in general.
Pater Tenebrarum at the Acting Man Blog discusses free trade including the following absurdity regarding sale of cabbage.
Mind, we do believe that free trade, free movement of capital and open borders are essential and important achievements. But here is a little comparison that shows you quickly and easily what isn’t (hat tip to one of our readers at Seeking Alpha):
- Pythagoras’ theorem – 24 words.
- Lord’s Prayer – 66 words.
- Archimedes’ Principle – 67 words.
- 10 Commandments – 179 words.
- Gettysburg address – 286 words.
- US Declaration of Independence – 1,300 words.
- US Constitution with all 27 Amendments – 7,818 words.
- EU regulations on the sale of cabbage – 26,911 words.
Tenebrarum sarcastically asks “How on earth did we ever buy and sell cabbage before there were such edicts from the bureaucracy in Brussels?“…
