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May 15th, 2013 
Peter Nolan
Updated
The National Retailers Association (NRA) says the Government has missed a “golden opportunity” to boost the budget by not lowering the GST threshold on foreign goods.
The budget shows $17 billion has been wiped off the nation’s books this financial year, and a $60 billion write-down over the forward estimates.
Currently, the threshold of GST on imported goods is $1,000, compared to $19 in Canada and $28 in the United States.
Independent research commissioned by the NRA says lowering Australia’s threshold to a similar amount of $20 could have helped the budget bottom line by up to $819 million.
NRA chief executive Trevor Evans says it could have also prevented the loss of up to 33,400 jobs from the retail sector.
He state governments are missing out on the revenues they could otherwise have earned.
“[The money at stake is] growing quickly, as is online shopping, and that could have helped the states pay for things like hospitals and police,” he told ABC News Online.
“The Government is denying itself revenue at a time when states are crying out for extra funding to help pay for the NDIS and education reform.”
Mr Evans says Australian retailers are not asking for special treatment.
“I think our local retailers are actually incredibly resourceful and resilient,” he said.
“However, what we can’t expect them to do is succeed as well as they possibly could if we continually put them at a disadvantage when it comes to taxes and customs.
“[Australian] retailers are going to continue to be at a competitive disadvantage compared to their international foreign online retail giants and that means that local jobs continue to be at stake.”
Budget receives cool response from business
The budget has received a cool reception from business groups, with most lamenting the lack of assistance for firms and tax changes that will hit large multinational companies.
Topics:
retail,
industry,
business-economics-and-finance,
budget,
government-and-politics,
australia
First posted
Source Article from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-15/government-missed-chance-to-boost-budget-says-nra/4691006
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