In Belgium they have several VAT rates, ranging from 6% for staple goods to 21% for luxury products. Which seems fair enough, but its government seems to have gotten things mixed up a bit.
Notably the purchase of condoms has to be fanciful in the extreme in their eyes, as you will have to pay 21% VAT on each one you buy. Obviously, some Catholic old fart was in charge of making the VAT lists and no one else bothered checking them before approving the rates. Or so we hope, because then the Belgian parliament can now get their shit together, utter an embarrassed cough or two and quickly put condoms where they belong: in the lowest VAT rate.
But there's good news as well: antiques -obviously being staple goods- are subject to the 6% VAT rate so perhaps you can buy a 16h-century condom made of pork intestine on eBay and use that instead. Don't forget to rinse with hot goat piss after use. And there's no VAT charge at all on newspapers in Belgium, although we wouldn't advise trying to have safe sex with a page of real estate ads wrapped around your willy. We'd rather trust piggie bowels in that case.
So shouldn't a 0% VAT rate for condoms be, well, obvious? Even for old Catholic farts?
Written by Mischa Bludts
