SERIOUS G.A.S this month.

[Harley Hexxe]

gear in AUS seem overly expensive.

+1  The government there seems to shaft everyone with Import and Duty taxes.

[rnolan]

Hey Chamai, tell me about it  :facepalm: , and if we try to source stuff from other countries, they either don't ship to Australia (to protect the Australian distributors etc) or the postage is ridiculous.  We also get slugged with what's dubbed the "Australia Tax" where OS companies charge us 20 to 30% more for anything, just because they can.  We even had a Senate inquiry about it where the Senators grilled Apple, Microshaft, Samsung etc etc why they charge so much more here (not that it helped, they still do it).

[MarshallJMP]

+1  The government there seems to shaft everyone with Import and Duty taxes.

I know the feeling. >:(

[rnolan]

Hey Harley, absolutely, it cost me $1500 AUD to get the bass through customs (on top of $500 AUD postage).  On the plus side if the value is less than $1000 AUD it doesn't get taxed.  But of course all the retailers want that changed ("oh we can't compete with OS online stores...").  The governments been looking at changing it but so far they figure it would cost more to collect the taxes than they would make.

[MarshallJMP]

Here in Belgium everything above 22 euro is taxed.

[rnolan]

Hey MJMP, Even worse than here,

[Harley Hexxe]

@ Richard,

     That makes no sense Richard. They tax by a certain percentage don't they? So, if the percentage is applied for anything under $1000 AUD, they still  get their tax money.

@MJMP,

    I believe that tax situation is similar in many countries throughout Western Europe. It was in Greece. Not only did you pay Import taxes and Duty fees, but on top of the sales tax, there was also a King's tax, which made no sense to anyone since the Monarchy was deposed in 1967. According to my relatives over there, even under the Euro system, that tax was still applied.

         Harley 8)

[rnolan]

Hey Harley, working out what tax to apply isn't the hard bit, customs would have to process every package and they don't have the resources.  And they recon if they did put the resources and admin etc in place to do it, it would cost more than they would raise as the max tax of 10% would be $100, so they just go for the bigger ones.  At least allot of the bibs and bobs I buy are under $1000, CD or DVD etc.

Greece is even worse again, not only do you pay all the taxes you also have to pay the bribes (I've forgotten the word for it, and while they made the bribes illegal, it hasn't changed anything).  My ex wife is Greek BTW 

[MarshallJMP]

Here the duty is done by either the post office or companies like UPS,FEDEX etc. They charge you 15 to 30 euro for this.

[Harley Hexxe]

Hey Richard,
   I know about that too. Greece has been in a lousy financial state ever since 1974.

[Chamai]

+1  The government there seems to shaft everyone with Import and Duty taxes.

I know the feeling. >:(

we get a stupid 12% sales tax on everything we buy except unprocessed food and a few other things.

but we do get some sick deals. paid 550 cad for a brand new orange 2x12 closed back cab a year ago. that was prob my best score ever at a store. and my only piece of gear that i bought new in a box.

[MarshallJMP]

Here in Belgium we pay 21% VAT + 5% import tax + 15-30 euro for the duty handling for everything over 22 euro value.It doesn't matter if it's new or second hand.And they even count the shipping cost in the total value.

[rnolan]

Hey MJMP, that really sucks, and charging tax on the shipping  :facepalm: