It works in curbing tax evasion, but the cost is a huge waste of time (and productivity), as the seller needs to ask for and input the numerical ids of the buyers. If there's a dinner with 10 people you can expect the restaurant employee to spend 5 minutes or more dividing items of the bill amongst the 10 persons and enter each id one by one.

Plus now the government knows every purchase you make and likely where you were then. Despite privacy controls being now better in the IRS (every access is audited after some VIPs had their information constantly accessed and leaked), IMO it's only a matter of time till this information starts being used for other purposes.

That's interesting. I thought the system was way more "low-tech", ie that the phyisical, printed receipt worked as a lottery ticket, and whoever holds it may be the winner.

I'm saddened to hear that it actually sounds like centralized, authenticated registration of all purchases.

>"It works in curbing tax evasion,..."

How does it curb tax evasion? Is the idea that if a customer requests the lottery entrance that the sale will be reported? Do most people opt for the lottery ticket in practice then?

Exactly, that's the idea. Most people do in fact request an invoice, except for very small purchases (like an expresso). In some areas where tax evasion is still rampant (like construction), they won't ask for an invoice because the contractor will give them a VAT-free price. On their side, the advantage is that they won't need to report the amount as income.

In addition to the lottery, there are also tax rebates for people who ask for invoices. For restaurants, I think it's like 20% of the VAT of the purchase, towards a limit of 250 EUR/year. Other industries where tax evasion is endemic (hairdressers, auto repair, etc.) have separate rebates and limits. I think this is the reason, more than the lottery, that makes people ask for invoices.