Taxing 3D printer designs, software and movies - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2016, 12:22:39 pm
content: Our politicians have been hard at work trying to work out how to impose a 10% (GST) Goods and Services Tax software and the like of Netflix subsriptions purchased from offshore. At the moment we are tax exempt on anything being shipped in under $1K in value. They want to remove this limit, in the desire to reap more tax from people like myself.I admit I blatantly geo-hop to the USA to get a more comprehensive Netflix(meant to be a middle finger), and I purchase overseas stuff that is not made in Australia and usually do not pay GST. I also buy from Digikey, and when the total is above $1,000, I split the volume into amounts below $1,000 to avoid GST. The government is too stupid to realise people can split bills of material and get away with it.I can see this happening:1. They will fail to police the tax on software/movie services etc coming in from overseas. Software will continue to be purchasable on-line and no foreigners are going to police it for the Australian government and the Australian government will be unable to police it themselves.2. There will be plenty of workarounds. Proxies - not only of the Internet kind, but also the mailing address and credit card payment kind.3. They cannot tax 3D printing designs pulled in from the internet and printed here (ie: not imported). This is not an issue now, but in 10 or 20 years time it will be.4. There will be heaps of ways to avoid paying GST, on say a $100 item bought on eBay. Or from Alibaba. The dodgy Chinese government or Ma Yun are not going to provide any support to the Australian government on overseas purchases. And even when they are imported, there will be plently of "sample only" or "gift only" markings to aid tax avoidance.As we have found in the import of non-safety compliant electrical goods, the government has little cannot control what is coming into the country. Less so with software. Politicians and their chief public servants are pretty backward when it comes to knowing much about technology, hence why they make costly mistakes in their decisions. Like the music industry, governments have failed to understand the impact of technology and end up reacting rather than being proactive. They will be trying to plug holes left, right and centre.One final point, even the Australian government is now providing geo-dodging services...https://shopmate.auspost.com.au/Hypocrisy reigns. A bit like Sony selling en-masse CD ROM writers primarily used to copy CD's and suing people for pirating their CD music.THe UK is pretty strong on taxing people, eg: TV licenses. I'd be interested to know how they tax software bought on-line with the VAT.

author: Mechanical Menace
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2016, 12:35:39 pm
content: Quote from: VK3DRB on February 19, 2016, 12:22:39 pmBy not:QuoteAnd regarding:QuoteSteam, Amazon, Netflix etc all just add UK VAT as applicable, are happy to as part of being able to do business in the UK. I'm sure the Australian market will be worth just as much (probably more actually) to them.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 19, 2016, 12:56:09 pm
content: Quote from: VK3DRB on February 19, 2016, 12:22:39 pmYouDOrealise that even with split shipments, if customs suspects you are doing this, they have the power to combine your shipments, treat them as one and tax accordingly ... don't you?Whether they pick up on it is another question.

author: Someone
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2016, 08:43:09 pm
content: Quote from: VK3DRB on February 19, 2016, 12:22:39 pmThat has never been the responsibility of the government, it lies with the importer. What most people don't understand is that they become the importer when buying from overseas and are then responsible for a range of things including ensuring the safety of the product.

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 20, 2016, 12:36:03 am
content: Quote from: Someone on February 19, 2016, 08:43:09 pmThe importers don't give a stuff!In most cases they don't have a clue about what they are selling.The Govt doesn't have the staff to check every corner shop for dangerous merchandise.Remember,how they got rid of all those "bludging Public Servants",to thunderous applause from the uninformed?Back in the day,children's cots that didn't meet Australian Standards were not allowed to be imported.Now,with "Free-Trade" being regarded as the "cure-all" of economic woes,banning crap like that would be regarded as a "non-tax barrier",& prohibited.Now,the old fights have to be re-fought all over again,to remove dangerous items from sale.