Consumers pay the entire VAT. Every piece is passed through to the end consumer. Businesses do not pay axes.
Agreed.
European consumption VATs though, are per transaction point of sale taxes. With American sales taxes, I can compute my sales tax rate, currently it’s 8.25%. With a VAT sales tax, government is hiding their sales tax rate because it’s a tax on profits and the end consumer is unaware of how much that is.
This replaces the payroll and business taxes. Still a part of the overall business model that is passed to and paid for by consumers. It’s not a transactional or sales tax though.
To the extent that it’s a hidden tax, it’s no more so than the taxes it would replace.