It is not that simple. Actually there can be up to four kind of taxes at play here depending on local laws:
- Import duties
- VAT
- Income taxes
- Gambling taxes
Import duties and VAT can be handled by Keysight if they deliver the price through a local dealer or a dealer which is in the same VAT area (like the EU). But then there are still income and/or gambling taxes.
It is really that simple.
Income tax is tax on
financial income, earned or not earned. Winning a scope is not a financial income,
not in the US and not in the EU, and hence there is no income tax due on goods won at sweepstakes.
Gambling taxes which exist in some countries is a tax that is due when gambling in a gambling facility (like online casinos, real casinos, non-free sweepstakes, lotteries and such). Free sweepstakes like the Keysight one don't fall under gambling because the punters don't pay to participate or pay to win, which is pretty much the core of gambling. There are a few other regulations (i.e. some countries require that there are conditions on participating, i.e. answering a very simple question) but at the end of the day the thing is that these sweepstakes are not gambling.
The only thing the winner could be hit with is import duty and VAT/sales tax. Import duty depends on a few factors, one of them where the scope was made, and if you're in the US or the EU, but in general there won't be any import duty for the scopes Keysight offers in their sweepstakes. VAT/sales tax has to be paid, but it pretty much depends on who acts as the importer - the winner or Keysight. Since Keysight has representations in most countries I guess they will act as a importer. If not then the winner is liable for it, it which case I'd ask Keysight what the declared value of the scope is (which should be noticably lower than RRP).
Everything else like gambling tax, inheritance tax, repatriation tax, bee keepers tax, Trump tax or any other tax that some people in this forum seem to be afraid of has no relevance to winning at these sweepstakes.
All this is pretty much a lot of noise about nothing, and it's disappointing that the OP has decided to start his silly rant instead of doing at least a basic fact check with the German Zoll and the Finanzamt. There's hardly a way better way to make yourself look like a complete moron