I’m absolutely gutted!
Because of new tax laws anything purchased overseas on-line to Australia requires to pay 10% GST from 1st July 2018
As a result Amazon.com has decided in their wisdom to abandon selling their goods to Australian customers. I have brought 100s of CDs/DVDs etc from them for many years.

Amazon.com.au has a tiny fraction of what Amazon.com has and it’s prices are not good.


https://www.news.com.au/finance/busines ... 046f63b894

Amazon USA is charging people in my state sales tax even when we buy from an Amazon 3rd party seller in another country.

IMO, Amazon has better cs than ebay (at least if you've got prime or if you're buying from a 3rd party); while ebay tends to have lower prices & NO SALES TAX (but crap cs). In fact ebay is actively fighting to make internet sales tax illegal. All the other retailers are just caving.

Ebay will be my better choice for online shopping for CDs & DVDs from now on. It seems I will have to abandon amazon.
Amazon Australia is a joke

I did some looking into this and it seems that the GST is supposed to be similar to the Value Added Tax in Europe but actually functions more like a national sales tax. Would that be correct? I'm also interested to know if Australia has local "state" sales taxes in addition to the GST? I'm assuming so because I've seen a couple references where people in higher taxed areas feel the GST is unfair because it tends to favor people in lower taxed areas.

The GST is a national sales tax, you're right. It's a 10% tax on most things you buy.

The disagreements about it occur because of how taxes are distributed by the Federal Government. There's no separate State/Territory tax collection, instead the Federal Govt. decides on the amount of overall tax revenue that each State or Territory gets allocated to it. States/Territories control spending on certain things (schools, hospitals, roads and so on) but they're given the money to pay for it by the Federal Govt. States and Territories don't collect taxes (this is something the Federal Govt has been keen to introduce, but no agreement about it has ever been reached).

Each State/Territory Govt. wants more of the GST revenue, and some places argue that they're not getting enough of it for various reasons: some places feel they should get more because they're larger in area and have a more widespread population with many remote rural communities and therefore they deserve more money for infrastructure. Other places argue they should get more because they raise more GST (due to being tourist centres, or having larger cities in them with more people spending more money, raising more of the revenue, etc). Some argue they need more of the tax 'pie' for a range of other reasons as well that are too boring to go into.

It's a very contentious issue here, and whenever anyone mentions raising the GST there are massive howls of protest in some sectors because it's seen as a 'regressive' tax that hits the poorest people the hardest (because it's a tax on everything that you buy).

Personally, I think raising the GST would be a good idea. Even a little bit. Maybe to 12%, so it's not such a huge increase for people who are already struggling financially. I'm not in the majority, though. Everyone in Australia seems to agree that taxation reform is needed, but Australian politicians perceive the GST as a hot potato so nothing ever changes.

I'm making the assumption that there are various fees for certain services, but is it safe to say that the vast, vast majority of government revenue from taxes comes from income taxes, business/corporate taxes and the GST? Looks like there isn't a property tax in Australia unless that property is specifically being used as an investment.

Yes, conventional taxation and the GST comprises the bulk of government revenue. There are also various things (such as 'stamp duty' when you purchase property) that function as de facto taxes. So no official property tax on private homes, you're right, but we still pay 'stamp duty' when we buy a home. I know, it's mad...I'll refrain from ranting.

Taxation is kind of a basket case here, and despite the fact that Australia emerged from the GFC unscathed nothing has been done to address the fact that the mining boom is dead and gone, there's a lot of uncertainty regarding China (which buys most of Australia's iron ore and beef, among other things) based on their recent actions in the South China Sea and their 'one belt, one road' policy (which Australia elected not to be a part of), not to mention the whole digital disruption/gig economy situation which is moving faster than any legislators can keep up with.

I pay $4000 council rates per year on my house which is like a tax to me
My solution to my financial and personal problems is to move to China which I'm planning on doing by the end of the year

Like a tax? Sounds to be exactly a tax.

It's back on !

https://www.news.com.au/finance/busines ... f3bea71c97

Fantastic news!!!!

I am very happy

Congrats!! Great news for you!! Anything to make it easier for you to get your music (and other stuff) quicker, and to spend more $$$!!