VAT is a semi-stealth tax concocted by European socialists to silently steal from the populace. The entity who pays the highest VAT tax is the retail buyer so in this way it is like a sales tax which I prefer over VAT. Aside from the retail buyer the European Gov’ts extract smaller VAT taxes up the production chain as value is added to an item. This part of it is the stealth tax. The retail level VAT tax is out in the open
If it is charged only at the retail level, it is NOT a VAT, or value added tax. It is a sales tax, pure and simple.