Running notes

I wanted to consider the issue of GST on online sales, as raised by Gerry Harvey recently. I think he’s wrong – at least at the moment. He’s engaging in rentseeking – or at least, trying to.  It’s worth looking at what’s happening, and why. Harvey claims that parity of the Australina dollar with the US dollar hurts retailers in Australia, and that there is not a level playing field, as GST does not apply to sales with a value of less than $1,000.  It’s worth noting that online retail sales are a relatively small part of total retail sales – about 3%, according to Assistant Treasurer Bill Shorten, and of those, 20-50% are from overseas.

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