But the EU, as a whole, is the world's biggest market and it is a common market in spite of legal and cultural differences between countries. So that's pretty naive.
And if companies think the "compliance cost" is too big, that's fine, it means they are leaving money on the table for their competition to pick up. The best outcome is actually the EU getting some real alternatives to US services that are deemed to be indispensable.
So personally, as an EU citizen, for companies no longer wanting to serve EU citizens, all I can say is don't let the door hit you on your way out.
Although I generally prefer the Dutch set of laws to the American, Dutch laws stifle innovation. The difference in even simple things like setting up a business, hiring an employee, and ensuring compliance with local laws is insane.
Every time I go to America I get requests for random things that either don't exist in the Netherlands or are criminally expensive. Bengay cream here costs €16.20 for 57g, only available at special online shops. In America you can buy it everywhere, €5.84 for 113g. That's one example. You might criticize it for being too arcane, but there are hundreds of thousands. Each one of these things costs double the Amazon price or more for popular products: RAM, angle steel, many batteries, sanding belts, IEMs, pumps, permethrin, LEDs. That's just off the top of my head. Every time I need something it's a game: will I get lucky and pay 40% extra, or will it be only available for 200% the price? Or even worse, not available at all?
You want to sell those things above? Go ahead. A few of them are even triple (!!!) the American retail price, so you'll make bank, right? Start a business. But you won't, and nobody else will, because it's tremendously difficult to start a business here.
I can understand higher taxes make products more expensive - sure. Those taxes provide the benefits I enjoy in a country like the Netherlands. I can even deal with the cost of shipping from America. But I cannot deal with paying double or triple the cost for hundreds of thousands of various products. And laws like this just continue the movement in the wrong direction.
I have no clue what you are talking about with those products though; that's the case in many countries. In the south of Spain I pay more for a fridge or a bath than if I import them from the Netherlands. NL is an expensive country for some things. In the US you can get Bengay cream (i have no idea what that is by the way) for 5.84 but university and healthcare can bankrupt you. Give me NL every day as long as that lasts; these consumer products are not fundamentals while education and healthcare are imho.
I specifically said that I prefer the Dutch way in general, and that I don't mind paying higher taxes to support this. Hell, I live here, I hold a Dutch passport, and I vote for the related causes.
However, what I hate is certain aspects of the regulatory environment that choke out startups. That has nothing to do with healthcare or education but rather to do with very restrictive EU + Dutch laws.
Making it difficult to start a business makes the incumbents more powerful, and the incumbents already have high prices and limited selection here in the Netherlands.
[partially copied from a comment of mine below]
Starting a company here in the Netherlands is quite difficult. It involves compliance with every law related to your business, hiring employees, purchasing services for the business, etc etc. All of these things are more onerous, expensive and difficult here.
I've been involved with many startups on both sides of the ocean. In America (for better or worse) you get up and go. In Europe, simple things like creating a contract and paying someone are way more difficult and the barriers are much higher. Everything from the address you register your business at to protecting yourself legally is an issue.
It's difficult to explain exactly how debilitating the regulatory environment is to someone who hasn't experienced it firsthand. Startups are fragile. Many companies that are now unicorns were at some point on the brink of collapse for a good bit of their early life. Just one trigger can kill a startup, and additional regulations can be that trigger.
Sure, there are other things crippling innovation in Europe: a total lack of venture capital and fewer "temporarily embarrassed millionaires" play a big part.
I wouldn’t say that’s very difficult.
I've been involved with many startups on both sides of the ocean. In America (for better or worse) you get up and go. In Europe, simple things like creating a contract and paying someone are way more difficult and the barriers are much higher. Everything from the address you register your business at to protecting yourself legally is an issue.
Seems like a bit of a straw-man argument anyway. Businesses don't usually pay consumer-oriented taxes like VAT (UK), or Mehrwertsteuer (DE). So which taxes are we talking about exactly?
And importing stuff isn't too hard. If it was a truly Dutch issue, you'd set up the import business in another EU country, and then ship it to the Netherlands once it's inside the Union.
I'll give you aerosol deodorant, but I think that comes down to a preference for stick deodorant in America - which costs approximately as much as British aerosol deodorant.
That's one product; I named ten, and I can provide plenty more. The fundamental problem of not having access to many products for a reasonable price is a big one, and unfortunately I think Europeans just accept it.
Look, I'm pro EU, and I'm not protesting the taxes we pay in the Netherlands. I think they go to a good cause, and I don't think high taxes make it impossible to start a business. But onerous regulations do. Shit like this just adds to the pile of things that a startup has to deal with, and eventually it's too much.
I'm not saying that higher regulations are just a Dutch issue, by the way. I think it's a general European issue. I just picked the Netherlands because I live here and have personal experience with startups here (as well as in Germany.)
I generally like the GDPR, but many details of it were moronic. I've visited hundreds of sites where you have to individually deselect each of hundreds of trackers. Is that legal? Nobody knows! The GDPR is a nightmare for startups: you've got tens of contradictory blog posts from legal experts saying different things, 28 individual country regulators involved... Even if your startup is very privacy-friendly, you still (probably - nobody knows for sure!) have to put up one of those ugly big GDPR-walls to every EU visitor, which messes up your user experience and turns people away.
Is there not a Dutch version of the same compound, manufacturered closer to home?
There are several methyl salicylate products available in the Netherlands, but they all are available for a similar i.e. extortionate price.
In a country with easier to navigate laws, you can start an import business and sell the products locally. Sure, there is a price increase due to VAT, shipping, handling and business expenses, but this is typically reasonable. For an example of a low-volume perishable food product, I'll take stroopwafels. Here in the Netherlands, where they are made, a 200 gram bag costs between €1.50 and €2.40 depending on the brand. In America, the same 200g bag costs €2.40 at Trader Joes (which is $2.79.)
That's between a 0-60% price increase - and that's for a perishable, low-volume, inexpensive food product sold in a luxury grocery store.
Except it isn't really a single market. Each country has a unique language, culture and body of law. The cost of taking a German product to France is much higher than expanding from California to Texas and New York. (California, Texas and New York having a higher combined GDP than France and Germany [1].)
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_between_U.S._states...
What metric are you using because the EUs GDP is about 700 billion less than the US and going to drop even more when the UK leaves.
US GDP: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2018/01/weodata/weor...
EU GDP: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2018/01/weodata/weor...
