I don't know if the 21% - 20 % = 1 % is "the wrong direction"
That's a political-economic issue
You can't isolate the Accordion Industry or Musical Instruments Makers Industry from the global economy. VAT is just one element.
This topic is a difficult one, and I'll try to keep it at the accordion retail shop level, but if you want to analyse it, we would need economists and math analysis.
The guarantee (2 years in the EU), shop service, maintenance and repair services,... are also to be considered.
But I presume they are not that different in the EU , the UK, or other parts in the world.
Most of the times, accordion shops send accordions with difficult repair problems to Castelfidardo in Italy, or other repair experts.
To add another element:
The number of accordion music shops/retail sellers in 1 country. The more dealers, more competitive prices.
Belgium is a bad example for comparing with England, because Belgium has got very very few music shops that offer accordions. Most of the time the Castelfidardo makers choose 1 dealer, eg Pigini has 1 dealer, Borsini has got 1, Bugari 1, Mengascini, and so on... . This is not ideal for competitive prices. Some Belgians go to Germany or France, or Italy, for accordions. The accordion market in Belgium is rather small.
In England I suppose you have more dealers for each brand of accordion.
It's better to compare England with France, Spain, Germany.
One should also look at the number of sellers/dealers per country, and compare the numbers. Maybe in Spain there is more competition between dealers than in Belgium.
another element at production level: accordion companies/makers that use off shore companies/constructions for tax avoidance strategies...
Different international production sites
Indeed, a very interesting topic
