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Regarding import taxes, US manufactured optics are duty free, so an import of a US manufactured Meade or Celestron scope should only add the cost of shipping and the GST. As the dealer can claim the GST component, it is transparent to them, and the only realy addition to their cost is the shipping and import paperwork. Note that AFAIK, there is no duty exemption on Chinese or Japanese scopes, so they should in reality be more expensive than Celestron.
Therefore, there is no practical reason at this time that a CGE-925-XLT from a medium to large Australian retailer should cost more than $5900 ($4019 US street + $630 air shipping + $575 currency exchange + $100 import paperwork + 10% GST), if it is a quality product that the manufacturer does not anticipate having to return to base for service. Even in the case of a return to base, it would likely only be one component of the system that would need to be returned, so where is the other $2k going? The US street price is the profit level that is able to keep the US stores operating. Even the shop in the small town I grew up in in Canada is only adding a few hundred mark up over that, and they definitely do less in sales than the big shops here do.
OK, time to go breath.
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