At 03:36 PM 06/04/98 +1000, franko wrote:
>It goes both ways though. You'll also be able to buy cheap cotton
>clothes, very cheap software (if not entirely legal), and many other
>products which can be produced much cheaper in countries which have much
>lower labour costs and virtually no labour protection laws. Governments
>have yet to begin to understand the ramifications of this. For example,
>our Government right now is trying to foist a Goods and Services Tax or
>Value Added Tax (essentially, a retail sales tax) on us. I know most
>countries already have one, but then, this is Australia we're talking
>about. The problem is, it's kind of too late to be thinking about such
>taxes when we're on the verge of totally open and free trade across the
>globe via the internet. What do retail taxes mean then, when I can buy
>my products tax-exempt from outside the country?
>
>The promise of internet trade throws open the whole basis of taxation
>and tariffs and governments haven't even begun to realise there's going
>to be a problem, let alone think about solutions.
Wow, I've really started something here with my Vietnamese village example :>)
Frank, you're absolutely right about how govts. are pretty clueless on the
impact of the net on their tax revenues. It's going to be fascinating how
it plays out.
BTW, in the States there are retail sales taxes imposed by the individual
states (which vary widely, from 0 to around 9% I think) but not by the
Federal govt. This leads to amusing situations: on the southern border of
Washington state (in the northwest) residents do much of their shopping in
the northern Oregon city of Portland, where there is no sales tax.
Of course, on the net you can avoid sales tax altogether. But in the USA
you have been able to do this for years through catalog shopping or
telephone shopping. I just ordered my new Mac. I almost bought it through
the Web from an operation physically located in Conneticut until a local
telephone order retailer (in California) that I had been talking to about
the system offered it to me for $400 less (he got a better price on the CPU
and included shipping costs). He also had some software included that I
wanted, so overall it was a better deal. But it was very nearly cheaper to
order it from out of state because the sales tax was going to be hundreds
of dollars.
Barry <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Web Design & Development�- Online Marketing <http://www.ToTheWeb.com>
In a world without walls or fences, what use do we have for windows or
gates?
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