Peter Dutton Is Planning A Great Big New Tax On Your Online Shopping
How is Peter Dutton still getting worse?
Online shopping is one of life’s greatest pleasures so it isn’t that surprising to hear the federal government is planning to ruin it, because Malcolm Turnbull’s Coalition just doesn’t want Australians to be happy.
According to documents obtained by Fairfax Media the Department of Home Affairs, which is run by everyone’s favourite minister, Peter Dutton, has proposed a new $5 parcel tax on all overseas purchases worth less than $1000.
That means that if you’re buying clothes, tech products, books or anything else from overseas you’re going to be forking out an extra $5 per parcel on top of already exorbitant delivery fees. The new tax is apparently needed to pay for bio-security measures so the government can screen overseas parcels.
In the last year, nearly 40 million parcels worth less than $1000 were imported into Australia, meaning a $5 parcel tax would raise close to $200 million in revenue, excluding administration costs. Parcel deliveries are expected to grow by over 30 percent in the next four years thanks to the explosion in online shopping.
The new tax could be announced as soon as the next federal budget, due to be handed down in May, but treasurer Scott Morrison has so far refused to comment on the speculation.
From July 1 this year the GST will also be applied to online purchases worth less than $1,000, meaning that consumers could be hit with two new taxes on their overseas deliveries.
You might want to get your online shopping done ASAP.
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Feature image via Wikimedia
