XENOPHONZ, I really don't think you do understand the term base price....

Oh......I understand the term, alright.

I'm simply stating that the "base price" of a given consumer good is directly affected by the operative tax rates.

For example:

Just to be simplistic -- unfortunately, it's a lot more complex than this in the real world -- it's going to cost a company more to set up shop and produce items in a country with -- say -- a 35% tax rate than it would for the same company to operate in a country with a 23% tax rate.

On top of which, the cost of the tax isn't absorbed by the company -- the cost of additional taxes is passed on to the consumer in the form of a higher base price. A "base price" which includes many, many hidden taxes.

Then, on top of the already increased base price, VAT taxes, sales taxes, tax taxes.....ad nauseum are piled onto the already inherently more expensive item.

Higher taxes aren't just something that get tacked onto an item after it rolls out of the factory door....like some sort of an afterthought. The higher tax rates affect the manufacturing/sales process at every step. Thus, the sacred "base price" is higher right out of the gate.

As for CL exporting to the EU, there are all kinds of costs for a company to do that, too.

I would be greatly surprised -- even with the small mark-up over US prices that CL has so graciously offered to its European customers -- if CL makes as much profit off of one copy of P6 sold in Europe as it does off of one copy of the same product when it's sold in the US. CL's profit is probably several percentage points less in Europe, even with the additional mark-up. Message edited on: 02/21/2005 22:56

Something To Do At 3:00AM