[derickr]

"Amazon do not abuse it, they just run shop from an EU country with low VAT rate (Luxembourg) last I checked."

They "abuse" it from the point of view from the countries where they don't pay the VAT.... f.e. the UK would like Amazon to pay VAT in the UK, and not in Luxembourg. So this new law is meant to prevent that, but at the same time waltz over small companies.

[yc1010]

UK politicians (judging by recent headlines) also want to leave the EU, or at least threatening to do so if they don't get their way.

They might like/want X but they will have to negotiate and endup with X-Y or nothing, since negotiating something as important as VAT while threatening to leave the club is politically counterproductive.

[derickr]

I don't think this law was actually pushed for by the UK. And countries like Hungary where VAT is 27% have much more to gain by it.

[glomph]

They are only threatening because the election is coming up and an anti EU party got a surprising amount of votes in the EU election (still not that many in real terms).

[jiggy2011]

Very few UK politicians want to leave the EU.