The idea behind the VAT is that added value is taxed. Kind of the purpose of a business is to create value by taking raw materials and create objects of value. Most businesses don’t begin with raw materials but rather buy materials and objects that have been created, thus have added value.
The idea that, “in the end the consumer always pays the tax” is the result of years of propaganda. Even Adam Smith knew that the wealthiest individuals are the most detrimental to a well functioning and moral society. One only has to look at the example of the United States over the past half century — where the idea that cutting taxes for the wealthiest would benefit us all. Yet with every tax cut for the wealthy has led to a worsening of the national infrastructure and public services, decreased school funding, increased poverty, expanding income inequality, greater incidence of fraud and corruption, and on and on… If it is only the consumer who ultimately pays the tax, why do the wealthiest spend so much effort to reduce or avoid their own taxes? If consumers paid all the taxes, they would have no taxes to pay. They bank on the fact that large swatches of the country are easily led.