Browned off

[TomB]

Bob puts the kiss of death on imposing the GST on goods bought OS.

RETAILERS calling for the Government to scrap the GST threshold on internet shopping have found a surprise ally in Greens leader Bob Brown.

[boxy]

"Why should the shop up the street have to charge GST for its customers but the shop selling goods out of Tokyo or California not have to charge GST?"

Well?

[TomB]

Well?

Well.... just to play the Devil's advocate.

Do you think a 10% GST would make Australians prefer to use local suppliers even though a given object will still be 20% to 30% more?

[boxy]

If it's still 20 or 30% cheaper... then good luck to them. They're selling on price, and people will still buy. But why should they get a tax break on top?

I'm guessing that it was set up this way because the govt at the time thought it wasn't worth the hassle collecting GST on the few, small time, online purchases.

[Outlaw Yogi]

I hardly ever buy anything found on the net, and when I have, its always been from OS, and haven't used an electronic payment method ... yet.

Was pricing amphibious digital cameras so many days ago. The Vivitar 6200 in OZ is $300, just found an add OS which has the Vivitar 8400W for £57.00.
Alternatively the Canon D10 in OZ is $600 or in US via the Canon site its $299.99

With GST I'm still far better off shopping OS, it'd be like going back to paying sales tax but cheaper. Sales tax was 21%, went up to 21.5% + 30% import duty. Made buying from OS heaps dearer.
Once I bought some Performance Machine drag style wheels for my rubberglide, taxes and freight almost doubled the cost by the time I'd got my mits on 'em.

[Ethnic]

Unsurprising that the Greens support more taxes for those who can least afford them. For some reason the Greens hate freedom of choice and they hate the poor. And why the fuck is this fluffy bunny demanding the government to "reconsider"? Who the fuck is this minority wombat to demand anything?! First the carbon tax, now this.

[mantra]

Bob puts the kiss of death on imposing the GST on goods bought OS.

As more and more people shop online - the greater the chance of associated retailers failing. Small business keeps Australia going and not only do they pay GST, business tax, staff wages, payroll tax, shop overheads etc. they usually repair or replace the items if they fail.

Perhaps the retailers and Bob Brown can see the fairness in levelling the playing field a little more - after all if retail outlets fail, unemployment increases. There are still plenty of us who don't use online shopping and prefer dealing with local people when making substantial purchases.

[Outlaw Yogi]

GST on privately imported goods (under 1K threshold) won't happen because Mark Vaile as Minister for Trade in the Howard govt signed us upto AUSFTA, and under WTO rules putting taxes/levies/fees on imported goods justifies our trade counterpartS doing the same to goods imported from OZ.

Bob would be far better off pushing his proposed 'Tobin tax'. Which means banks would no longer enjoy their tax free status like religious orgs. Tobin tax is specifically targeted at monetary transactions made by banks with OS banks.
According to Bob's rhetoric a 0.01% Tobin tax would generate $240,000,000 a day.

[Ethnic]

As more and more people shop online - the greater the chance of associated retailers failing. Small business keeps Australia going and not only do they pay GST, business tax, staff wages, payroll tax, shop overheads etc. they usually repair or replace the items if they fail.

Perhaps the retailers and Bob Brown can see the fairness in levelling the playing field a little more - after all if retail outlets fail, unemployment increases. There are still plenty of us who don't use online shopping and prefer dealing with local people when making substantial purchases.

So instead of these retailers waging a war with the government that imposes these high wages and taxes and the shopping centre giants who impose these massive rents and expenses, they go after the struggling consumer who may occasionally buy a $100 pair of shoes online that sells for $270 in a shop? Why doesn't Gerry Harvey attack Westfield? Why doesn't he attack the government? Instead he attacks us and says "fuck you battlers, pay more and just shut the fuck up you filthy commoners". A small business owner said to me yesterday "Gerry Harvey has cost more jobs than online sales have". How many smaller retailers went bust because of this greedy fluffy bunny. Now they want even more control over us. Fuck him and his goons.

[Jovial Monk]

Collecting the GST on those small purchases from o/seas would cost more than it brings in, so it won’t happen.

Instead, business in Australia needs to get real, they have been isolated in Australia so long, able to sell limited range of often not very good stuff that they think that is how business works. They treat their sales staff as an expense to be minimised instead of the most vital and last link in their advertising and marketing campaigns. Wake up and smell the coffee: stock a decent range at decent prices, get some good staff and train them and you will find people won’t need to shop o/seas. The idiots have made a LOT more people aware of o/seas buying and the benefits thereof, expect to see a lot more of that!