This is not going to go down well with OzBargainers?
https://www.theage.com.au/business/companies/amazon-to-block…
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-31/amazon-to-block-us-sit…
Sign the Petition to SCRAP the GST on online goods sold online costing less than $1000
Yes I am sure Labour will instantly reverse this policy, just like all the other policies that haven't been reversed but which are bitterly complained about while in opposition.
So what is the alternative?
Keep this Turdball government in power to screw us even more?
You sound like a die hard Liberal.
Whether Labor does the reversal or not.
This shitting Turdball government needs to go..
Many of us have been pissed off about the shit hole stuff they have done since they have been in power..
ie
-Shitty half rate NBN that is slow and drops out alot.
-GST on all goods below $1000 for all online overseas purchases.
-trying to introduce the $7 patient contribution fee.
-policy around the HECs changes..
@pinkybrain: > You sound like a die hard Liberal.
In the previous post I said Shorten's post on eliminating negative gearing was interesting, and could be quite a good policy. Yes very die hard liberal…..
My point is that people like you blame 'Turdball' but in reality labor policy is just as bad (in fact worse).
You complain about the NBN, and yet the whole idea was worked out on the back of a f napkin. Had it gone fibre to house we would of seen probably another doubling in cost.
The point of the NBN was to get a ROI so it could be spun off and not be a burden to the tax payer - that was how it was sold to the electorate. And I would much rather the money that will be written off go to pensioners who are struggling, rather than people who are earning the $$$ and just want to have multiple 4k streams via Netflix. Or are you going to pretend that it will spawn massive employment opportunities? lol…. what a load of pure bs that excuse was.
The $7 fee came from potential labor policy.
If it didn't affect people on Gov support I think it was quite reasonable. How much would it of really affected people? A whole $20?(x3 Dr vists); less than 50c a week? OMG!! What a MASSIVE COST!!!!! Now watch as I spend more on a cup of coffee.
In terms of HECS & Education - what a disaster via Gillard - get this we now have 1/3rd of TAFE students with a Uni Degree…. 1/3rd - think of all the waste of time (3 years) and money ($50,000+) for what? To goto TAFE and not get a job? Wow looks like a really useful and great policy… How much overall will this cost Australia?
You actually sound like the moronic political party supporter, who is easily distracted by shiny policy that does not work (NBN) and believe the party hacks, whom only care about power ("whatever it takes") and couldn't care less about Australia.
So please carry on voting and imagining there is a difference between labor and liberal (lolz) and you will keep getting the politicians you deserve :)
LOL
As is confirm by your response, you are diehard moronic liberal..
Even though you say you see no difference between labor and liberal..
everything you say is about protecting the Liberals policy and criticizing Labor.
What's wrong with getting the best NBN in the world instead of this second rate, slow and frequent dropouts crap we got now..
The turd NBN we got now is a massive joke.
We have dropped in world rankings to like 60 something etc..
and we are a western country.
There's a saying
"Do It Right The First Time "
And do you realize that this crap NBN will eventually need to replaced anyway..
which end up costing even more money than getting it right the first time..
You say the whole idea of NBN was to turn a profit?
So how much profit is the shitty Turdball NBN making now?
NBN/Internet has been noted..should be considered a utility like electricity..
There are so much services and almost everything in a modern world relies on having a reliable and fast internet.
If you don't think so, then I suggest you go back to the woods and use your shitty dialup or even older carrier pigeons.
===
A whole $20?(x3 Dr vists); less than 50c a week?
Your maths sounds stupid, if you are saying there is an average of $20 per week if they visit 3 times a week
How are you getting less than 50c a week?
Or are saying $20 (3 vists) a month or a year etc..
Which is just as stupid.
You do realize that there are people that need to go more than 3 visits don't you?
Also in what world is $20 not alot of money.
It might not be much to you, but for low income and pensioner that is a lot of money.
Why are you even on ozbargain if $20 is not a lot.
This site is about saving every dollar.
===
shiny policy that does not work (NBN)
It did work, until the stupids Liberals ruined it with their stupid plan.
If it had been done right the first time.
Then there wouldn't be this shithole of an NBN we got now
and it would not need to be as maintained unlike the crappy copper we still got, running to our homes..
which will need to be replaced eventually anyway..
So how's that for your so called cheaper cost NBN now?
which has already blown out of budget and will need to be replaced anyway..
===
Like I have suspected
you just listen to everything turdball/abbot government has said and believe their bullshit.
No need to waste time to argue with you…
No need to waste time to argue with you…
And yet you did.
you just listen to everything turdball/abbot government has said and believe their bullshit.
Libs bagged Neg Gearing and yet I don't agree with them, I agree with Shorten, who is a Labor, so you are wrong.
everything you say is about protecting the Liberals policy and criticizing Labor.
I am just providing balance - you bagged Liberal 3 policies and said they were stooopid and I just stated that they are more nuanced than you are making out. I also showed the really big screw up of the labor party regarding education. If you want me to bag the Liberal party I am happy to :)
Lets start with the big policies - 25% reduction in tax for Large Corporation (though to a large extent that will actually benefit Superfunds (which reduces future pension payments - almost always a good thing), but I still disagree with it; Our lack of royalties regarding natural gas; Our current immigration policy (why would we allow even more engineers, accountants and lawyers in when we already have a tremendous oversupply of them?).
What's wrong with getting the best NBN
Do you know how big Australia actually is? You have completely ignored the economics. I guess whats wrong is that it would cost double what it would cost now.
Who do you think pays for it when it cannot make a return on it? The Government does. They pay for the overspend. But its the taxpayer AND my guess is that it will be the pensioners who will see no real increase to their pensions for years and years who really will pay for it. But hay who cares - we should only give a crap for wanting faster internet.
"Do It Right The First Time "
We budgeted to build you a house for $300k but we screwed up the figures which we wrote on a napkin while on a midnight flight (with unlimited alcohol!) and now its going to cost $600k - but at least we do it right the first time….
Oh and the Bank (or investors) won't cover the extra… So pay up.
We have dropped in world rankings to like 60 something etc.. and we are a western country.
How many of those countries spent in excess of $60Billion? Even an advanced economy like Germany is not offering FTTH/P to all customers (and they are a 21 times smaller than us - 357,022 sq km, vs Australia= 7,741,220 sq km). Neither is the US. Are we more advanced than Germany?
My point is that we could of probably had a similar result using a variety of other methods (big tax breaks, incentive payments) without having to buy a dying copper network and paying Telstra billions. Of course the payback could get worse when 5g arrives…
So how much profit is the shitty Turdball NBN making now?
How much revenue has to support $60Bn? How much revenue has to support double that? So you need double the revenue from the same number of people, which would mean NBN charges would have to?…
which will need to be replaced eventually anyway..
So why didn't we just replace it that way? Why do we need to chuck billions and billions ad infinitum at it? So we can say 'lolz' just faster?
Of course you again failed to state who will pay for the overspend?
Your maths sounds stupid, if you are saying there is an average of $20 per week if they visit 3 times a week
How are you getting less than 50c a week?
Or are saying $20 (3 vists) a month or a year etc..
Which is just as stupid.
Who visits their Doctors 3 times a week (meaning 156 visits a year)? I was assuming people visited their Doctor x3 a year (I have only been 2 times in 5 years). Apparently assuming people visit x3 a year is stupid?
You do realize that there are people that need to go more than 3 visits don't you?
The policy (formulated originally by LABOR, a fact you seem to ignore) actually meant that if someone did indeed visit 156 times and had a concession card/under 16 there was a cut off (10 times) and after the limit was reached they didn't have to pay anymore.
More importantly if they had a chronic disease/condition (like Heart disease, stroke, cancer, type 2 diabetes, obesity, arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, addiction, depression, HIV, ongoing pain issues, etc (i.e. any condition that lasted more than 3 months - which is over 40 categories of diseases)) they were exempt from the co-payment.
This is the most important category and the one that effects the majority of legitimate patients who visit multiple times per month.
Even the AMA agreed with a $6.15 co-payment for those who didn't have a concession card and who don't have a chronic condition.
Also in what world is $20 not alot of money.
It might not be much to you, but for low income and pensioner that is a lot of money.
I can guarantee that if you were born in Australia I have lived on a lot less than you (or your parents) have for a significant part of my life. So yes I do value money, however I also value our medicare system and know the pot is certainly not bottomless.
However considering Australia spends over $1.50 for movies and 53c for perfume per person per week on average, I think spending 50c is quite acceptable. I guess you do consider health more important than those things.
It did work, until the stupids Liberals ruined it with their stupid plan.
It only worked if we threw how many more billions at it… And that means that the Government has to pay an additional monies which means the taxpayer and those on welfare would of got screwed to pay for it. I do not think that is fair to them. The benefits of fast internet do not outweigh the costs in my mind. I would much rather pensioners get paid more than just faster internet.
you just listen to everything turdball/abbot government has said and believe their bullshit.
Considering I disagree with their assessment of Labors negative gearing policy and criticised 2 of their big policy failures the facts disagree with you.
But considering how independent you are - Perhaps you would create a list criticising what you think are Labors worst policies? Perhaps you would like to start with NBN figures being done on a napkin without conducting an extensive cost-benefit analysis (CBA)?
US: "Sold by AnkerDirect and Fulfilled by Amazon. "
compared to:
AU: "Sold by BuyGlobal"
You're comparing two different stores. This has nothing to do with amazon AU, and everything to do with the stores participating on each platform. It's not Amazon.com.au fault that "ankerdirect" don't stock their items on .com.au. If they did they'd be the same price.
And BuyGlobal don't even have AU stock so it'd be coming from US/China anyway!
Are there any alternatives to Amazon US? This includes eBay.com.au, correct? I heard it applies to anything less than $1000 if an item is bought from an overseas seller.
I saw this on the news earlier. This really sucks. In the last few years I've spent thousands and thousands on dollars buying essential items from Amazon US that you simply cannot buy here in Australia. Or if some items are available here, there's very limited variety and it's sometimes even TWICE as expensive in Australia.
Agree with other posters, the government should be focussing on other important issues, not going after small fries to appease a handful of (rich) people.
I heard it applies to anything less than $1000 if an item is bought from an overseas seller.
Plan A was to lower the limit, say down to $25. No point collecting $2.50 if it costs $5 in admin.
Plan B was to remove the limit, but slug the customer $7 in admin fees. Your $25 item is now a $34.50 item while a 10 cent GearBest piece of tat is now $7.11.
Plan C was to make the foreign companies collect it. No admin fees, no limit. Your 10 cent GearBest piece of tat is now 11 cents.
And here we are with Plan C. Enjoy your stay.
And Amazon just gave a big FU middle finger to the Australian Government regarding plan C.
Well no. They have established .com.au at a huge expense and if the articles were read correctly folks would have noticed they are setting up a global system. Hardly an FU to the government. Amazon has been throwing cash around with suppliers all over Australia buying up stock.
@Third_Gear:
Establishing the local AU doesn't mean anything..
Considering that..
The fact is the local Amazon AU store has been a dud.
Hardly got anything and most of the items are overpriced compared to the US store.
Besides the recent AMAZON20 code,
I don't think much people had any desire to buy anything from the AU store…
Regardless of what they setup..
The head of amazon decided that is not worth collecting the GST for the government on the overseas amazon USA store..
which are making more money for them than local AU store.
This in turn would have netted the Australian government a lot of GST.
By blocking this, they are giving an FU to the government.
We rather lose $1 billion in AU sales then collect the GST for the government.
At 10% GST, this would have netted the government $0.1 billion dollars.
How is this not a big FU to the government?
I also read that if they had agree to collect GST for Gov, they would have open up themselves to many other countries that want to
implement the same thing idea.
The $1,000 GST threshold was in place for a reason. It made sense. These changes are a clusterf### and will never work properly. Forcing companies to collect the tax and pass it on to the government is a nightmare, forcing customs to collect the tax and pass it on would be one of the worst possible outcomes (as both the UK and Canadian experience proves - and the productivity commission agree with), and forcing postal companies to collect tax would probably be the worst possible way.
The $1000 threshold should be reinstated. F###, drop it down to $500 if need be. But you need a low-value threshold. It's absurd that this law got passed.
This is Australia 2018 - look at our banks …….
One of Australia's biggest banks, ANZ, will be prosecuted over an alleged criminal cartel arrangement, the nation's consumer watchdog says
The charges will involve alleged cartel arrangements relating to trading in ANZ shares following an ANZ institutional share placement in August 2015," chairman Rod Sims said in a statement.
I didn't know that, thanks for the explanation.
I have asked Amazon, gift cards will not carry over.
Can someone help me understand how the ebay one will be enforced?
So ebay will charge the tax and give it to the government, got it, but how does the package indicate this?
The black plastic wrapped cables from Hong Kong are going to have some kind of special ebay sticker, would that be it? That sticker would have to be counterfeit proof though, and verifiable by the government or something through right? or else how would it stop everyone just putting an ebay sticker there or writing 'from ebay'?
I don't understand how this is going to be effectively policed without having to inspect everything and verify an invoice or something. This seems like such a terrible idea.
The usual shipment form and a large warning: GST PAID, DO NOT COLLECT GST AGAIN, TRUST ME :)
Only those overseas store owners with revenue more than $75,000 need to be registered and collect the GST. eBay won't collect the GST
Even if this is accurate, the question still remains. How will shipments from those particular sellers who've already collected GST distinguish themselves from those naughty sellers who haven't collected GST?
Since this ebay is market and not a store …
so this is on a per seller basis
and those sellers need to say they make more than $75,000…
I buy 1 cent items on ebay from chinese sellers.. how are they gonna charge tax on that?
most likely with a nominal $5 custom fee
How will this affect Aliexpress?
Will they just refuse to comply and sell the stuff without GST anyway?
This is going to be one of the biggest International Joke, we Australian everything is going backward. Slow Internet, less product choice, more tax, highest house price, totally isolated country. Great job our stupid gov.
By the way, don't necessary need to purchase from Amazon, there will be more online sellers out there. More you trying to buy from Amazon you are proofing our stupid gov and these lazy big fat corp are right.
Let’s just vote for different party for next election that should sort things straight.
We need the OzBargain party!
Whadda we want?
Eneloops!
When do we want them?
Whatever the cheapest shipping takes!
Eh, is Amazon even that widely used in Aus?
If they are apparently doing 1 billion sales to here, then I guess so.
I just use them for stuff not available here. And I've been buying from them, and the various country sites like uk de jp fr since 1999.
Sorry, Amazon Australia, I meant.
Well they've only been around officially around 6 months so it's pretty hard to establish a huge volume of sales no matter how big the parent company is.
People complaining about Amazon AU having "hardly anything to buy" should be patient, I reckon.
Everything else about this story sucks, but Amazon AU still being new shouldn't be something to complain about.
@MJM: Its easy to establish a huge volume of sales - sell it for cheap like they do in the US.
But they are not.
Perhaps they were aware of the incoming changes and decided to setup an AU domain; now they are protected from foreign competition (hence the reason for their high prices - they don't have to drop them!).
Where did you get this $1 billion figure from?
I hate to sound like the conspiracy theory guy, but I have to wonder if this would result in lots of sales before July 1, and there will miraculously be some kind of last minute deal.
just trying to figure out what will be the hot items to sell on amazon au and ordering a few thousand now from the US and EU amazon sites
At least we internet shopping pioneers can bore future generations witless with tales of Amazon UK free shipping and GST free. It did feel temporary at the time.
So will we be unable to read all the ebooks we bought for $0? If amazon.com redirects to amazon.com.au, and content purchased from amazon.com isn't available at amazon.com.au, goodbye library. I'll be vaguely sad, but I imagine anyone who actually paid for their books would be pretty damn pissed!
Politics and bargains aside, overseas operators should pay GST. I love a bargain but I'm willing to pay an extra 10% for the good of the country. This is poor form from Amazon not the Government. I've spent thousands on the US and UK stores and now i'll be looking at other avenues.
I agree, but I think they are probably doing it to speed up the growth of Amazon au.
They can easily collect the tax. They have a system in place to add tax based on shipping destination. EVERY US online store can. They have to do it for state taxes. They show places for it in the checkout. They can easily add Australia to the table of location taxes, add an entry for Australia, put the rate 10%, and they'd be able to collect an extra 10%, earn interest on that until their periodic payment to ATO, and everyone wins (except us consumers).
Don't try convincing me it is just too hard for Amazon.
It's the naive, gullible and childlike mentality views like yours that have made Australia what it is today.
There is no country in the world that is perfect but all the chest pounding, flag waving and 'talking-up' of the place won't make Australia any better than it is until the electorate put a political party into power that has the country, and not themselves, at the forefront for them being in politics.
I'll leave it to others to decide whether someone expressing an opinion is naive, gullible or childlike or someone calling someone's opinion so. I also never said the tax changes were perfect or that this country is perfect. It's far from it but as a migrant to this country I am proud to call it home and can appreciate what GST revenue allows State and Territory Governments to provide the population in terms of quality of living, infrastructure, social returns and environmental returns. This doesn't constitute chest pounding or flag waiving in my mind but simply a little appreciation for what we have in this country.
As i said, "politics aside"… i'm not commenting on the Government's motivations or Amazon's for that matter. The principle however that domestic operators in the Australian market having to collect GST but overseas operators being immune doesn't make it a fair system.
May you have a long life living in your world of makebelieve.
Rather than trying to collect 10% GST on small value overseas purchases, I’d like the government to legislate so their corporate mates and the multinationals are made to pay their fare share of tax, on the income they make in Australia… think of the infrastructure and services we could afford then!!
Can we, ozbargainers, please have some dignity and self respect and ban Harvey Norman from Ozbargain?
Love this idea. Can we have a forum vote on this? He is such scum and the opposite of every value and Oz bargainer holds.
No, always good to have Harvey Norman price errors. That will hurt them the most :)
they could just cancel the orders.
True, but I still think Amazon is the issue, should boycott Amazon au. Everyone knew this GST thing going to be coming. Ebay global manage to change it, why not Amazon?
Even if they added gst to imports, most items still be way cheaper than HN.
Why are you trying to pick a target for your rage. You should be upset at all 3:
- Aussie retailers included Harvey for pushing this.
- Government for agreeing to it.
- Amazon for using it to pull their international stores and force people onto their AU store.
All 3 are profiting out of gouging Australians.
I think you are right with that analysis. In that respect, I should be looking for other online sellers. So for Japan just stick to CDJapan, US maybe Deep Discount or B&N. UK, DE and FR I'm not sure who will still be available.
Got news for pal..
In case you weren't aware.
People have already indirectly boycotted Amazon AU since day 1
when they saw how very few items are sold on there
and how much of a rip off the items are compared to other sources like Ebay(including coupon codes) or local stores..
It is not about knowing or not knowing about GST..
From the top management ie Jezz Bozzo..
They probably decided that is not worth the cost of collecting the GST for all items below $1000
since they have many different international Amazon sites..
and many different third party sellers on there.
They probably also did this to get more people to use their turd sandwich Amazon AU site
which no one used, except when they had the AMAZON20 promo code.
Even after the change, people will still be pissed off at Amazon..
But the main issue people won't buy from the AU store even after July 1,
is because there is not many stuff and the prices are a rip off.
Currently AU store is missing 90% of the items on the US store and the prices are nothing special.
Amazon should have just ignored all contact from Australia on this and shipped in plain packaging. After all, it's not illegal to ship packages (yet - but I'm sure the government is working it). Our government might have checked invoices and returned packages, or might have scratched their heads and backsides and done nothing.
The only reason Amazon is being forced to collect tax on behalf of the Australian government, is because government realised they'd lose money by collecting it themselves! So instead of dropping the idea, they foist responsibility onto businesses in other countries!? Amazon has the moral high ground here - make it too difficult and/or expensive - and we stop selling to your country.
Example: I've bought from many much smaller USA business. What's going to happen now in those cases? The Australian government can't contact every business on the planet. So they'll collect GST by withholding packages, dropping a card in our mailbox requiring payment at a post office. Which is what they've already been doing for packages over $1000. So why not do more of the same for Amazon? Because of volume and because the amount collected doesn't meet the cost of collecting it.
Well our government certainly solved the volume problem. Scum!
Boycott them. Ban them. UPROAR!!
Harvey Norman has been crying to the government that no-one is buying their inflated Tech goods anymore due to online Tech purchase.
Thh government saw this as a cue to cash in on GST even for < $1,000 purchases by coming up with this shamble law.
This is the reason why AU will always be behind in consumer products compared to the rest of the advanced world, we have a bunch of clowns running the show.
Dick Smith did a lot of crying but then eventually folded and started focusing his energy on border restriction
ok mate, go live in the USA where u have Donald trump in charge instead of said "clowns" lol
weird logic here
Oh look - a victim of Trump derangement syndrome. I'd heard it was spreading.
Border restriction… LOL. You mean total population control. He only switched to immigration to push his his real original agenda back a few steps. (The tool promotes the globalist nonsense and lies like we'll soon be standing shoulder-to-shoulder. Even if it were true - good! - we can slowly turn the desert into lush pasture.)
Don't forget the deep state and chem trails and the NWO
WHAT DOES A MAN HAVE TO DO TO GET CHEAP STUFFF
First world problems this is. But I'm seriously considering moving to Cambodia to work random jobs there to drastically improve my standards of living.
Fake where you were born, your qualifications, become a politician, and never pay a cent back when you're caught.
If you get caught on social overpaid by 10 cents expect your benefits withheld for 3 months plus.
There's a theme here, but its not a meme, so you probably didn't get it.
MIGRATE - lol
Is anyone willing to start an online petition at https://www.change.org/petitions (or similar site) My English isn't good enough to do this but I'll be happy to sign.
You capitalised English and only left out one colon, so your English is better than most Australians. Go and create it yourself. ;-p
ironically, change.org petitions never actually change anything.
I'm starting a change.org petition that says your wrong. ;)
Ah the lucky country strikes again! Feel the greatness people!
Most liveable city, woo!
Does anyone know Gerry Harvey's home address so I can send him thousands of $0.10 items from China?
He'll probably just take them to his shop and sell them for $79.99 each
Standard pathetic Australian government. Don't make Australian business and industry more competitive; just make Australian customers pay more.
I am confused with this whole "make businesses pay their fair share of tax" thing. GST is a consumption tax, the consumer pays it at the end and shouldn't affect businesses (apart from the admin costs), that's the whole point.
You get local companies that will pay GST to import which they can claim back against the GST that the consumer pays on purchase. Purchase for $11, sell for $22. Therefore, they pay ATO $2 GST on sale less $1 GST on purchase = $1. Profit = 10. The costs passes through the company…
Compared to foreign companies who CANNOT claim GST on their purchases, so why should they pay GST on their sales??? Purchase for $10, used to sell for $20 for profit of $10, now has to sell for $22 and pay $2 to ATO. Therefore ATO gets more money and local companies get benefit of being able to claim GST credits from purchases but foreign doesn't, isn't this less fair for all?
If someone can explain where my thinking is wrong, please reply as I am genuinely confused. I guess that for UK businesses, they can claim back VAT on their purchases and not charge VAT on sale.
Because Gerry is calling the Australian population Stupid, or he is…..
yes the GST is paid by us not the seller.
The wholsaler that made the $22 item he sold for $10 plus gst also paid 90c in GST when he sold it to the retailer. And the farm who made the x which was a component of the product also paid gst when they sold the ingredients to the manufacturer and so it flows down the line.
The wholsaler that made the $22 item he sold for $10 plus gst also paid 90c in GST when he sold it to the retailer.
No he didn't, business purchases like this are GST-free. Only the consumer pays GST which is collected by the retailer.
I know taxes are a contentious political issue, but regardless, it would have been better if they just removed sales tax altogether. There's just no need to have two sources of income tax. Remove sales tax, compensate by increasing income tax. These issues all fade away, aussie products become more competitive, poor people are less burdened by taxation… it's win/win/win/win. Unfortunately there isn't the political climate to tackle it.
We have internet monitoring now, so don't talk common sense. The government will hire a hit man to go after you. They have to complicate everything to keep their job and create new ones for their mates. Oops. Now I'm on the list too.
You need a deal on a vpn.
They usually accept crypto so no gst required.
this is just step 1 in the bullshit we'll be put through. The next step will be forcing customs to collect GST on all uncertified parcels. In a year or two there will be cries that the system is unfair because shoppers are moving to less responsible sellers who just flat out ignore the tax office request to collect GST. Gerry Harvey will complain about how this is a huge problem and blah blah. They'll push to have customs collect the GST. Then you'll get the nightmare scenario of
Actually it's all so Gerry Harvey can lift his prices by 40%
If this happens, I'll be buying 100s of $0.10 items from china and leaving it uncollected just to mess with them. I suggest everyone here do the same.
Ddos the infrastructure? Hope you used TOR to post this lol.
my guess is they would charge you for holding your parcel
I couldn't upvote this comment enough from Thord
This is the endgame. The tax amount is irrelevant. It's all about making it as inconvenient as possible to buy from overseas to protect local complainers.
To listen to ScoMo bang on about making corporations pay their fair share of tax (while pushing a huge tax cut) makes my blood boil.
And once this is pushed through they'll increase the GST, claiming now we have the law we've realised it's not profitable. i.e. Get the idiocy passed, then increase it rather than revoke it. They do this with everything. Just look at the NBN.
The next step
In the UK Customs assesses the VAT and the postie knocks on your door, parcel in one hand and credit card reader in the other.
Given Australia Posts abilities, imagine the mess if they decide to copy that idea.
LOL bunch of whingers spending your dosh overseas, but when foreigners buy a property or two, everyone's up in arms
Never play Twister with this guy… he sees connections no else sees, that would make me very afraid where he'd put his arm next. ;-p
Just bought a pair of headphones from Amazon US yesterday. Saved myself almost $40 by not shopping at Amazon AU. International postage was also cheaper than the local post. What a joke.
I hate hearing Gerry Harvey talk about supporting Aussie businesses. It's such a cop out. What is their to support anymore?? Manufacturing is dead in this country. Where can you buy an Aussie made TV or stereo anymore. Gerry Harvey didn't become a millionaire by supporting local manufacturing did he. The corruption in this country is getting out of hand.
The democratic process of government was ended by Governments.
The only way to eliminate 'corruption' is publicly funded elections, because if we don't fund it someone else will (& does).
election funding isn't the answer.
A job contract of honesty, stating stuff like your pension goes is you rort in any way, and you go to jail for 2 years would be.
Never seen a country where the population accepts laws allowing politicians to lie routinely written down. If your publicly elected representative needs legal protections beyond those enjoyed by any other worker this sort of crap is what you get and worse.
Retail purchasing controls is just a practical example of what Australians gave up when they accepted political corruption as legally protected.
The bankers love to have crooks in control….
you go to jail
People will always break the rules, even rules with jail sentences - why do you think millions of people are locked up in prison? Because the rules worked? Also the bar to convict is very high - and this excludes the possiblity of Politicans changing the rules (system problem).
your pension goes
How about this, I sign a contract with a corporation, who will pay me 10x per year more than my annual pension for 6 years: $1M vrs $100k for 6 years = $6m = 60 Years of pension. That excludes interest on my $6m which would equal $180,000 per year (assuming I could save all of it and recieve a paltry 3%).
If your publicly elected representative needs legal protections beyond those enjoyed by any other worker this sort of crap is what you get and worse.
So you support the removal of Parliamentary privilege (immunity from defamation)? That is enjoyed by Politicians and not available to other workers.
We have a system issue not an individual issue. Handing out sentences to individuals will not fix the issue. The only way to fix this issue is to fix the whole system not just impose more and more regulation on individuals.
So does that mean those retailers that are claiming GST for the government should also be required to have an Australian Bank Account so that we consumers don't get hit currency/exchange/international transaction fees by paypal/bank? I couldn't see anywhere on the ATO site that states that it's a requirement. If someone knows please do share the info/link.
for example
10% GST + Paypal currency Conversion + 3% Bank Credit Card International Transaction Fee & banks own crap currency exchange rates?
Since some stores lists Items IN AUD (eg. lonelyplanet.com store)… You pay for it thinking it's "AUD" but in actual fact when you check your bank statement you are actually charged in a foreign currency and hit with the 3% International transaction fee on top.
And if you need to return something for a refund you still get hit with that same 3% fee so you actually lose out both ways… buying & getting refunds.
So someone tell me how this is going to work? cause it's not just the 10%GST that I'll be hit with as I'm actually paying more.
As much as it's crap that we are hit with this GST for purchases, I'm also getting stung with all the other fees by the banks/paypal.
As a consumer we lose out big time either way.
You can avoid the PayPal conversion fee by changing your settings to take payment in the currency of sale. Some banks don't charge international transaction fees (eg, ING.) Still problematic, but just saying for those that don't know; change your settings and find a bank that doesn't rip you off.
I don't get the HN thing. Most of what they sell are things you wouldn't purchase overseas as they are bulky items. Their tech pricing is easily blown away by local stores such as MSY. What exactly is his problem? Am I missing something?
You are missing the fact that he is a attention seeking d*ckhead who has A Current Affair on speed dial.
He wants to make it hard for less savvy people to buy so they give up and are forced to go to him. He doesn't care about MSY because parents and grandparents don't buy from those places.
I don't think there is any way for the market to revolve around this..
Only possible way is for Government to remove this bonehead shit.
And first step is to vote this Turd-ball Government out.