Quote:
Originally Posted by FlashDrive
I know what your saying Fred......but human nature will ' kick in ' and people will resist to buy on line .... then the ' tax grab ' gets a whole lot less for the Govt.....then it will cost more than they can raise to administer the scheme.
Col.........
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And yes, then you are charged more "income tax" to make up the shortfall, and to support business with government paid subsidies, like they do in the car industry. Maybe it is then back to tariffs, like they way it used to be, but, as far as I am aware, under international trade rules, this is illegal. There are no easy answers, but to raise taxes and it cost more to collect it, is stupid in my view, although I understand the need for it. Ten percent won't make a difference when the disparity in prices are so great, it won't stop people seeking lower prices overseas. It certainly won't stop me, but I also realise that I need to support local business too. Caught between rock and a hard place, I just don't earn enough to afford the prices here any more, and I live in a state with the highest wages, but I am not seeing any of them.
I have no choice but to seek the best bang for my buck now. I certainly don't like seeing money head off shore, as I do think about my children's future.
Apple has the right idea with tight controls on their products, it costs about the same to buy an iPad in the US and here. It is better to buy it here and have a local warranty, for the little difference in price.
Australia can never really compete with the USA market anyway, it is much larger and has more buying power and has lower taxes. Wages in the US are appalling in comparison to here. When I was in Albuquerque in August, fuel was 85c/litre, however, there is only a 3% tax on fuel, which, I believe, is now about 54c in the dollar tax here in Australia.
There is always going to be a disparity and companies worldwide are struggling with this, because the Internet makes it just so easy to compare these days.