It nets out to everyone but the final consumer. Imagine 30% VAT rate:
Alice digs up some copper and tin and sells it to Bob for 10€ + 3€ VAT = 13€. Alice remits the 3€ to the authorities on Bob's behalf.
Bob casts bronze bars and sells them to Carol for 39€ + 11.70€ = 50.70€. Bob claims a 3€ refund for VAT he paid Alice and remits 11.70€ to the authorities on Carol's behalf.
Carol makes a sculpture from the bronze and sells it to a customer for 1014€ + 304.20€ VAT = 1318.20€. Carol claims a 11.70€ refund for VAT paid and remits 304.20€ to the authorities.
The end customer ends up paying 100% of the total VAT (304.20€). Everyone else nets out to 0.
That's just mental gymnastics. In the end the customer pays 100% of the costs a business has, that's completely obvious. Then we can say that businesses don't pay payroll tax either, because all salary costs are also baked into the price of the final products to customers.
You're correct with your calculations, but it's not honest to say that the customer pays the VAT and therefore it nets out for a business.
What's happening is that a business gets refunded by the government for any VAT they pay. Alice charges Bob VAT. Alice remits the money to the tax authorities who then refunds Bob the money they paid.
If after paying payroll taxes, the government decided to hand all the money back, that would be VAT. The only one who doesn't get refunded is the final customer.
No, I've been trying to explain that this is a myth. A business has to charge VAT on everything they sell. This VAT is paid by the customer to the business and then by the business to the government. A business also has to pay VAT on everything they buy from other businesses. They get to deduct the difference between these two, and pay what's left. I will give you a very simple example:
Consider a business who only purchase products and sell them to consumers for a higher price:
Step 1: They buy inventory for a total of €1000. €250 of that is 25% VAT. They have paid a total of €250 in VAT.
Step 2: They sell inventory for a total of €1200. €300 of that is 25% VAT. They have charged a total of €300 in VAT.
Deducting what they paid from what they have charged, you get €300 - €250 = €50. They have to pay the government €50.
And this is for a business who only resells products with a margin. Normally a business tries to minimize their costs and maximize their revenue, meaning that the difference in VAT will be even bigger.
I urge you to examine these common myths with a clear mind. It doesn't matter if your family and uncles believe in them or if the people here on HN believe in them. What matters is when your business financials are wrong and you're loosing money unexpectedly because you have believed in something which isn't true.
Alice digs up some copper and tin and sells it to Bob for 10€ + 3€ VAT = 13€. Alice remits the 3€ to the authorities on Bob's behalf.
Bob casts bronze bars and sells them to Carol for 39€ + 11.70€ = 50.70€. Bob claims a 3€ refund for VAT he paid Alice and remits 11.70€ to the authorities on Carol's behalf.
Carol makes a sculpture from the bronze and sells it to a customer for 1014€ + 304.20€ VAT = 1318.20€. Carol claims a 11.70€ refund for VAT paid and remits 304.20€ to the authorities.
The end customer ends up paying 100% of the total VAT (304.20€). Everyone else nets out to 0.