Wednesday 11 July 2001

Pic of the day: Growing pines.

VAT & other headaches

This evening I got a headache, even though I slept seven hours last night. (That's probably a new record for the month at least.) It is not the first time I have a headache, nor is it particularly intense. But it's not something I experience every month. In fact, I think I have recorded almost all instances in my journal, since I started this.

I am not particularly sensitive to pain, even though I certainly don't like it. It is the reason behind the pain that worries me. Particularly when the head is involved, since the brain is my favorite organ. This one does not feel like my typical sinusitis, which I usually get under one of the eyes and down to the roots of my teeth in the upper jaw, sometimes all the way down to the gums which get sore. This one is more centered on the forehead. Could still be one of the many sinuses, I guess. The head seems to be quite tunnelled with the things, for some reason. They probably do something useful too, though I'm not quite sure what. (I guess I could ask my medical friend. Or search on Google.)

I suppose it's just some common human nuisance. If this is my last entry, I was probably wrong ... but I've seen people cling to life for years despite being totally wrecked, so I don't panic quite as easily as I did when I was younger. For good and bad, I guess.

***

I did not quite believe it before I tried. Norway has just had an overhaul of its VAT system (value added tax, a kind of sales tax that accumulate through the chain of production and is finally paid by the consumer. The nice thing about this system is that each link in the chain can deduct the tax paid to the previous link, this makes it easy to control). Until now, we have mostly had tax on goods and not on services (with some exceptions). We also had full tax on food. Now this is reversed. We have tax on services, but only half tax on food. Just how random this is, I did not believe until I tried it yesterday and today.

I went to McDonalds and bought the exact same meal, my favorite McDonalds meal which is a burger with lots of veggies, and a milk shake. It cost me kr 50 (nearly $5) to go, but kr 55 to eat there. Presumably it is food when you take it away, but eating out when you sit down there to eat it. The bright side of this is that it should be easier to get a table. There sure were many empty tables these two days, even though it is in the middle of tourist season.

The strange rules for VAT in alternative health care I hope I shall not familiarize myself with, but legend has it that alternative therapies all pay VAT now, except two types which the labor party leader use. Conventional medicine is not taxed. Luckily one can also still pray for free...

But I can see how the new rules would give some people a headache.

As a tentative conclusion to this, I guess I can point out the bright side: Stupid laws show that representative democracy works. :)