No To GST on Overseas Internet Purchases

It has been announced that some of Ausralia's biggest retailers including Harvey Norman, Myer, David Jones and Target have formed a media campaign to get changes to the Australian tax system for those that buy goods online from overseas. They claim consumers not paying gst on their overseas purchases, puts retailers at a disadvantage.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/01/04/3106030.htm?section=business

It is time these retailers looked at the real reasons why people buy online overseas and addressed these issues instead of blaming "no gst puts them at a disadvantage". It is a fact in most cases even if you added on the gst and the postage the goods purchased are still much cheaper. Do these retailers not believe in competition??

It is also a fact that so many retailers have "Sales". We have seen advertisements on television wherein for example furniture retailers say "Save $700" on sale. Does this mean the retailer is selling this item at a loss because of the sale discount?? No it means they are still making a profit after discounting by that amount. There are countless examples of "Sales" save 50% Does this mean these retailers are losing on these sales? No it means there is a big enough profit to start with to be able to reduce by that amount and still make a profit. People buy at these sales because the prices are cheaper and this means the retailer gets the turnover and more people buying these items.

Why don't retailers look to more competition year round instead of blaming internet competition? Why don't retailers drop their profit margins and sell more items and still end up with a decent profit? It is easier to just blame their downturn in sales on the fact there is no GST on online overseas items. Charging GST wont change online overseas shopping. The fact is even if theri was a GST and the consumer pays postage it is still cheaper. Goods are delivered to your door and you dont have to contend with sales staff who are not adequately trained or at times even rude.

To Harvey Norman, Myers, David Jones and Target leave online shoppers alone and address the real issues. Perhaps some of you might declare your profit margin on each item. Perhaps you might explain to the Australian consumer why so many companies including yours can have "discount sales 50% off or more" and still make a profit. How much is the mark up to start with.