Why do goods in the UK than cost more than the USA (£=$ parity)

[barney15c]

I've noticed that goods especially electrical ones tend to be more expensive in the UK/ Europe than they do in the US, usually the £ equivalent of the $ price.
Can someone explain why this is the case?

[Buenchico]

It's partly because the US government takes less in tax.

An MP4 player, for example, imported into the USA attracts zero import duty, plus state and local taxes. California has the highest such taxes, totalling 10.75% but many other states generally only have taxes totalling around 6%

An MP4 player imported into the UK attracts import tax at 14%. Then VAT, at 17.5% is charged on top of that. The combined effect is to add 33.95% to the cost of the MP4 player, whereas only (typically) 6% is added on in the USA.

Chris