Online shopping from foreign sites is costing the government and Australian retailers millions of dollars every day. But it’s hard to see what can be done to ease the burden.
The Internet has enriched our lives in a multitude of different ways. Who’d have thought that one day we’d have the earth at our fingertips and be able to converse, watch TV, listen to music, play games, apply for jobs, seek for new houses, and nearly everything else you can believe of online at a moment’s notice. And who would have thought you could order everything from groceries to cars on the Internet, either?
Millions of people are currently using online shopping sites to order things they want or need. And a lot of of the websites they’re using aren’t even located in Australia. Which is a large boon for budget-conscious shoppers, but not so great for the federal government and home-grown retailers, both of whom are losing cash from the practice.
The trouble, as noted by a fresh survey, is that by buying abroad and having an item shipped in, a shopper can avoid having to give the 10 percent Goods and Services tax that Australian businesses usually pass on to consumers. If the product being shipped to the countryside has a value of less than $1,000, it is exempt from both GST and import duties.
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