Luckily the Deutsche Post doens't charge extra when they advance the money to the german customs office and get it back from me.

But sometimes packages from the US come in an extra bag and there's no customs declaration on the bag then I have to drive to the customs office to get it personally.

Quoting whispering:

Quote:
and their open only from 9-17 here

That long, yes? My next customs office in Germersheim is open from 7.30-15.00. So I usually am the first on the doormat in the morning.

My last visit went like this:

I: Good morning, you have a parcel for me
Him: It's in a bag, we need an invoice.
I: I know, it's inside, it's from Amazon.com.
Him: Here are scissors.
I open it, hand him the invoice. He takes it and returns it to me.
Him: There are no prices, I need an invoice with prices on it.
I flip the invoice over and hand it back.
Him: Oh.
Him: And you'll need to pay the customes in cash right now.
I: I know, I've been here before.

And additionally you have to imagine that this guy managed to get 5 to 10 words out - per minute.

Quoting reybr:

Quote:
And if I had been old enough back then... It would have been a no vote from me 
But I'm sure Berak is right. The custom free limit will stay the same in Norway. We got to protect our own retailers 

Old post though. But I do assume you see the reason why? If you buy something from outside of Norway, the seller does not pay sales tax in their country as long as it's exported. Which means that the item you're buying has not been taxed in any country. When stores and retailers in Norway are forced to sell the same item with 25% sales tax applied, it means they will not be able to compete. That will force out a lot out of businesses, which means loss in jobs, and raise in welfare, which again means higher taxes for those that are still with a job.

When everything in Norway is subject to sales tax, it makes no sense why that should not be applied for imported goods. I would like to see an efficient system which will apply 25% sales tax to everything which is imported into the country, regardless of value. But then waive the service charge, so you only pay 25% on top of the price (which as said above, it exported from the country of origin without any tax)