Talk:Büsingen am Hochrhein

This needs more history. How did it get this way?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.42.89.152 (talk) 23:12, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

Source
GERMANY SURROUNDED BY SWITZERLAND seems to provide some of the information found in this article. I don't know how reliable or accurate it is, however. 64.85.240.22 (talk) 06:04, 20 July 2011 (UTC)

World War II
What happened to Büsingen during World War II? Our history so far skips from 1918 to 1945. I found the following on the web at http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=93519&start=165 but it doesn't have an archival source - could anyone document it? I will see if I can contact Graham Clayton to get some background.


 * ''Re: Crazy and strange facts about World War II
 * ''Post by Graham Clayton on 14 Jan 2011, 22:16
 * ''Busingen is an German exclave located entirely in Switzerland. During the war, Switzerland effectively shut down the border, leaving Büsingen closed off from the rest of the Third Reich. German soldiers on home leave were required to deposit their weapons at the border guards' posts. The Swiss customs officers would supply them with greatcoats to cover up their German uniforms for the duration of their short walk over Swiss territory to their homes in Büsingen.

seglea (talk) 22:51, 2 November 2013 (UTC)

jurisdiction

 * The Swiss police hold jurisdiction in sectors in which Swiss law is used. Otherwise, the German police are responsible.

In other words, Swiss jurisdiction applies where Swiss jurisdiction applies, and Germans are responsible where Germans are responsible. Clear as paint! What's a 'sector' in this context? —Tamfang (talk) 06:08, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

boundary

 * Büsingen has 7.62 sqkm of area, four times larger than Monaco.

Including water?


 * Its boundary with Switzerland is 17.141 km long and is marked by 123 stones.

Does this length include the Rhine portion?


 * One named stone, the Hattinger Stone, marks the Büsingen-Dörflingen boundary. It, along with several other points, is in the Rhine River.

In the middle of the Rhine, or what? —Tamfang (talk) 04:44, 15 November 2013 (UTC)

Skype
Interestingly, I received an e-mail from Skype about the fact that it will no longer be available in Büsingen from 1 January 2015 because of tax reasons. Their Terms of Use will change as follows:


 * 8.4 Steuern: Alle Preise für bezahlte Produkte beinhalten anwendbare Steuern, inklusive MwSt., sofern nicht anders angegeben. Skype behält unter Umständen Mehrwertsteuer oder andere indirekte Steuern zum jeweiligen Prozentsatz (gemäß den anwendbaren Steuervorschriften) ein. In der Regel gilt die in Luxemburg anwendbare MwSt. von 15 %, wenn Sie sich in der EU aufhalten und die Produkte in der EU gekauft und genutzt werden. Wenn Sie einen Gutschein oder eine Prepaid-Karte kaufen, fallen je nach Land 15 % luxemburgische MwSt., örtliche MwSt. oder andere Steuern an, die vom Wert des Gutscheins bzw. der Prepaid-Karte bei Einlösung abgezogen werden können. Sie verzichten ausdrücklich auf Ihr Recht auf eine Mehrwertsteuerrückerstattung von Skype, sollte der letztendlich von Skype an die Steuerbehörden zu entrichtende Betrag aus welchen Gründen auch immer niedriger ausfallen als der von Ihnen einbehaltene Mehrwertsteuerbetrag. Büsingen ist gemäß Richtlinie 2006/112/EG des Rates über das gemeinsame Mehrwertsteuersystem von der Mehrwertsteuer befreit. Da die Skype-Website Nutzern in diesem Gebiet die Inanspruchnahme dieser Mehrwertsteuerbefreiung nicht ermöglicht, werden die Produkte in diesem Gebiet nicht angeboten.

The last two sentences say that according Directive 2006/112/EG, Büsingen will be freed of all Value Added Tax regulations, and that Skype can not implement this in their website. That is, it says, the reason they can not offer their services in this area.

The current terms of use (not updated yet) are here:

Do you think this is interesting enough to add? Ma.rkus.nl (talk) 23:17, 2 December 2014 (UTC)


 * What, they're ending service because they lack a way to not collect VAT? — I think it's too petty (and possibly transitory) to add to the article. —Tamfang (talk) 00:49, 3 December 2014 (UTC)

'treated as Swiss vehicles'
There's a clear difference in English between 'treated as' and 'treated like'. If vehicles with BÜS number plates are treated 'as' Swiss vehicles (for customs purposes), this means they are considered Swiss - which seems unlikely, and legally confusing, since they're German. If they're treated 'like' Swiss vehicles, this means means they're treated in the same way as Swiss vehicles would be - in other words, their owners aren't hassled by the Swiss customs whenever they drive home across the border. I expect this is what was meant here. Does this mean the article was written by a native German-speaker? If so, should the rest of the English be checked for accuracy? I can already see two more errors: 'can not' (should be 'cannot', always one word) and 'according Directive' (should be 'according to Directive').213.127.210.95 (talk) 17:39, 10 December 2015 (UTC)


 * I’m a native (American) English speaker and believe there is functionally little to no difference between “treated as” and “treated like”. In this context, only a Swiss plated vehicle is a Swiss vehicle. German plated BÜS vehicles remain German, not Swiss; however, to achieve certain administrative objectives, these German vehicles are treated as or like Swiss vehicles, but, again, remain German. 2001:16B8:2DF8:4000:1069:EB46:BE2E:CFDC (talk) 19:34, 29 March 2023 (UTC)

'EU tax on coffee' ? Highly dubious! Discuss!
Is this a spoof? There are no EU taxes on anything! Taxation remains clearly reserved to member states and their own independent national policies, nowhere is it shared.

Is there a German national tax on coffee? Or could the writer have meant that it would otherwise be subject to value added tax [where there is indeed an EU agreement on thresholds but in no way is it an 'EU tax'. Food is normally zero rated but perhaps in Germany coffee is a luxury?!! See also tampon tax controversy in UK]. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.97.11.54 (talk) 20:03, 25 July 2016 (UTC)

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its parent state(s)

 * Since the early 19th century, the village has been separated from the rest of, initially, the Kingdom of Württemberg and then, later, Germany proper, by a narrow strip of land

A quick look at a map of Württemberg suggests to me that Württemberg touched the Rhine only at Bodensee, and that Büsingen's parent state was more likely Baden. —Tamfang (talk) 04:47, 13 December 2023 (UTC)