A stupid idea , stupidly thought-out and then even more stupidly enacted by a combination of Public Servants and Politicians. Neither have any idea of the real world outside of Canberra.

The final result is that it rake in bugger all whilst leaving Australia open to retaliation and inconveniencing ordinary Aussies !

The Gerry Harveys of this world and his mates must wonder why the are held in such esteem by the great unwashed !

The federal government is so desperate for cash that it will do anything to raise a few bucks. It's trying to balance the budget by slugging smokers, drinkers and motorists. It looks as if retailers will be asking for government subsidies to survive ... What's new in Australia ?

Of course tax avoiders will want continue that practice.

Practise which sees Aussies paying as much as a 30% premium for the same goods sold in America, where state and federal taxes are imposed and paid!?

If Amazon feel threatened, why are they moving here?

Nobody bleats when they pay GST over the counter, but want special treatment when the same transaction for the same goods is undertaken online, which by the way, allows the business to use automated mechanisms to conduct business minus the usual wages bill, or even actually carry an actual inventory!

Yet despite all the inherent savings and expanded profit margins this model has? Bitch about paying a fair share of tax and what others not avoiding a fair share of a common burden, just front up with.

That said, one can make a case for real tax reform! That#1/ reduces everybody's load. #2/ not by collecting less total tax per se, but by eliminating accompanying compliance costs.

As would occur if a flat tax of fifteen percent were applied to all income? Or an expenditure tax of say, 5% was applied to all expenditure? And applied as cash was withdrawn from accounts for that express purpose!

With the trade off, no company tax or associated compliance costs or fuel excise or the ubiquitous GST! And the average 7% now ripped from the bottom line by tax compliance costs alone, returned by the new paradigm!

And accompanied by the enraged howls of unproductive parasites, forced to stop sucking the life blood from business and through it, the economy. That tax tasked with far more productive work via a direct funding mechanism and accompanying regional autonomy, that bypasses the middleman.

Who would then be left with no other choice but downsize and rationalize their essential sole operations! And as first responder, rather than a buck passing, excuse making middleman!

With housing affordability, being one of the first changes! As increased supply and accelerated activity, competition for population numbers, (registrations, licences, fares tolls etc) would be all that might plump up seriously streamlined, state treasuries
Alan B.

But ordinary shops would still be forced to work for free as tax-collectors - that's plainly unfair and creates a bias in favour of cyberism.

The existence of GST or any other compulsory tax can well be debated, but so long as the GST exists, the onus for paying it should be on the consumer.

Shops and service-providers, both real or virtual, should still be able to offer the customer a GST tax-collecting service, but if you buy from someone who doesn't provide that service, then you should be liable to report it on your tax-return. As shopping-outlets understand the inconvenience to customers, nearly all Australian shops will probably continue to provide that tax-collecting service. The big international cyber-shops will probably follow suit.

Australian shops/providers that receive less than $75,000 p.a. should still be able to provide this service, as they do now, by informing their customers that the tax-paying is on them.

To simplify things for those who do not otherwise need to send a tax-return or who would have trouble paying their outstanding GST annually, there could be an easy-to-use web-site for immediate GST payments. One should also be able to pay their GST at any time through the post-office, online-banking, etc.

An expenditure tax, collected as the only tax as money exits accounts for any reason including offshore transfers!

Simply allows shopkeepers to just focus on growing the business, rather than consuming valuable time collecting the government's (percentage of the take/piece of the action) turnover tax, misnamed, the GST!

And the preferred example eliminates any need for compliance, which in turn removes the need for any and all tax compliance costs. Or money for nothing for entirely unproductive parasites, unraveling absolutely unnecessary, man made complexity!

An unavoidable expenditure tax can also be adjusted microscopically up or down, region by region, to alone control all inflation or stagnation and simultaneously if required. Meaning, interest rates can remain historically low, to turbocharge the economy!

And given it allows significant household disposable money to be returned to households, allows a non contributory 15% super to be imposed! And revenue that grows with a finally unrestrained minus the lead in the saddle bags, economy! And further assisted by outlawing commissions and leaning, middlemen profit takers.

Other service providers can get by with a standard fee for a service, which doesn't alter with the dollar numbers, so why should the payday!?

I mean, it requires the same amount of time, energy and skill to install gold plated taps as steel ones; or sell a miners cottage in whoop whoop, as a mansion in Vaucluse!

With the last reform allowing the cost of living or just doing business to be halved! And another means of turbocharging an up and running economy!

So bold imaginative reform, with all the economic sail set and filled or business as usual, replete with the massive economic dragging anchor/lead in the economic saddle bags/middlemen profit takers!? Choose!
Alan B.

Now there is a black economy, that currently avoids paying tax, but still lines up for taxpayer funded services and amenity! Which ought to be changed to, means tested, directly funded, user pays models!

And where those in the lowest socioeconomic group, could be handed an education or health service endowment; and where they would need to nominate an operating bank account in order to receive this socially inclusive assistance?

Which would allow them to redirect as a direct debit, to competing service providers as health insurance payments/school fees etc. And where hospitals and schools etc, would then be obliged compete for a free market share of our social largess? And where the cream would rise to the top!

Then essential, if formerly avoided bank accounts, would enable cross referencing to monitor business and wages activity, for illegality?

Then match that routinely benchmarked data against purchases and lifestyle choices/manifestly honest operators?

If we want to reduce taxes and we should, we also need to reduce all unnecessary nonessential demands on it!

And governments need to be encouraged to invest in government owned infrastructure/enterprise, to help them meet their assigned and accepted social responsibilities, one of which ought to be high rise social housing.

Prestressed concrete reaches its maximum strength in around 80 years, by which time such investment could have paid for themselves three or four times over!

And lowest build cost per unit, mixed use, concrete towers rolled out along underused existing rail lines, would diminish traffic congestion and improve orderly, productive people movement!

The reason this stuff is hardly ever contemplated, let alone done, down to political activists consumed with power for its own sake! Rather than what it allows them to actually do.

President Kennedy got it right when he said, it is not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country! And may well have been pointing directly at this nation's politicians, with their divide and rule unimaginative, divisive, business as usual politics!
Alan B.