vat is simply corporate income tax, it's a tax on "value added", i.e. profit or income. I don't know in europe whether that is on top of other corporate income tax or not.
Companies can just raise prices without consequences? Is that free market competition in action?
Snark aside. I've always heard the idea was that free markets and competition would drive down prices, and that if a company was to just raise their prices, they would actually lose money because people would buy from a competitor with better prices. Turns out companies can just raise prices though. What does it mean when the things that happen in a healthy free market aren't happening?
As a business, you can deduct VAT that you had to pay to others from the VAT you charged your customers, and you only pay the difference.
So the only people who end up paying are the final consumers. It is essentially cost neutral to a business - you just have to account for it properly.
UPDATE: in the UK, at least.