Spain Increases Sales Tax to 21 Percent in Order to Reduce Deficit, Car Sales Plummet by 28 Percent

Europe's southern countries, i.e. Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece, have been hurt the most by the economic crisis that has hit the Old Continent.

In an effort to reduce the public deficit by €65 billion (US$82 billion) by the end of 2014, the Spanish government decided to increase VAT (sales tax) on most items from 18 to 21 percent starting this month.

As a result, car sales in the first two weeks of September tumbled by 27.6 percent to 12,300 units, according to Spain’s car retailers association Ganvam.

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