Diary of our stinking Govt.

[boris1gary]

As it's more than 100 days now, it has been suggested that a new thread was needed.  The current govt has been breaking promises and telling lies at a rate so fast it's hard to keep up.

This below is worrying, "independent" pffft, as if your own doctor is somehow what? biased, it's ridiculous. So far there is talk of only including people under a certain age 30-35, for now. Remember that if your injured in a car, injured at work or get ill, you too might need to go on the DSP. They have done a similar think in the UK with devastating consequences.

and this is the 2nd time recently where the Govt has referred to work as welfare???? So when you go to work tomorrow (or tuesday), just remember that's welfare.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-20/disability-pensioners-may-be-reassessed-kevin-andrews/5400598

Independent doctors could be called in to reassess disability pensioners, Federal Government says

The Federal Government is considering using independent doctors to examine disability pensioners and assess whether they should continue to receive payments.

Currently family doctors provide reports supporting claims for the Disability Support Pension (DSP).

But Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews is considering a measure that would see independent doctors reassess eligibility.

"We are concerned that where people can work, the best form of welfare is work," Mr Andrews said at a press conference.

[cherry*135]

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@amber-eyed-girl wrote:

I have only read the posts on this page.

many years ago when I first began buying on eBay, the odd parcel was assessed by customs for duty. Before the threshold increased to 1000$.

I would receive a letter from Australia Post, saying, in essence, that a parcel was being held by AP with customs duty to be paid.

this I paid at the Post Office and they gave me the parcel. AP was collecting the money on behalf of customs.

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July 2000 GST was introduced. GST assessment on items purchased online overseas is what we  are discussing here isn't it (GST free import threshold)?

[amber-eyed-girl]

Hi Paints 🙂

I know about the debates surrounding imports and the current rules. Just addressing the point that aps made. It was my experience too before the threshold changed upwards 🙂

AP did not do the assessment but they definitely collected the money on any parcels left with them upon which duty was to be paid. I didn't have to pay customs directly to get the goods, if they were in the care of AP. Think that was being questioned. Am3, I made it clear that I had read this page only, so that it could be seen I was agreeing with what aps said above.

happened to see they were being asked to prove it. All I can say is it was also true in my case.

carry on 🙂

[cherry*135]

Goods that qualify for certain customs duty concessions and are also non-taxable for GST include the following items from schedule 4 to the Customs Tariff Act 1995:

• item 26 Goods, other than tobacco, alcohol and bulk orders, with a value less than an amount prescribed by by-law (currently at or below $1,000).

[cherry*135]

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@amber-eyed-girl wrote:

Hi Paints 🙂

I know about the debates surrounding imports and the current rules. Just addressing the point that aps made. It was my experience too before the threshold changed upwards 🙂

AP did not do the assessment but they definitely collected the money on any parcels left with them upon which duty was to be paid. I didn't have to pay customs directly to get the goods, if they were in the care of AP. Think that was being questioned. Am3, I made it clear that I had read this page only, so that it could be seen I was agreeing with what aps said above.

happened to see they were being asked to prove it. All I can say is it was also true in my case.

carry on 🙂

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Was it Customs duty or GST that you paid?

What was the GST  limit before $1000? What year was it raised to $1000?

aps was refering to lowering the GST free threshold from $1000 to $200 or $400.

[amber-eyed-girl]

The level was I believe only 50$. It was the fees and duties levied by customs that included GST that I paid at the PO. Don't know which year the 1000$ came in but it was a while ago...years.

it was on clothing. Only on a few parcels and on the value declared on the parcel. Nothing was worth more than about 600$.

the most expensive item for me was a coat from Germany. When I collected that, there were parcels from LV in the "customs" cupboard at the post office. Would not know their value but they were held on behalf of customs too.

[fourandsixpants]

Hi Amber

Yes I remember now.....many years ago.

Don't think this would be cost effective though to be re-adopted by AP as pointed out by am3.

Heaven forbid they try to get post contractors to collect!! .....

Don't see how they could get PPal to collect either......as they would expect a fee from Govt for doing this and these corporates don't pay their tax atm.

Then again I guess this is how VAT is collected in UK (paid at PO on collection of parcel/s) on incoming parcels bought from o/seas

[amber-eyed-girl]

Am3, yes aps was also talking numbers, wasn't addressing that 🙂

Paints, there has been talk going back to at least 2012 about getting the online traders to collect GST on purchases. Amazon can calculate taxes payable depending on your address, so in theory any retailer/online site could do it. But they would be up for the cost of implementing software upgrades if they couldn't do it already. Why would they want to? Unless they were given an incentive.

[cherry*135]

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@amber-eyed-girl wrote:

The level was I believe only 50$. It was the fees and duties levied by customs that included GST that I paid at the PO. Don't know which year the 1000$ came in but it was a while ago...years.

it was on clothing. Only on a few parcels and on the value declared on the parcel. Nothing was worth more than about 600$.

the most expensive item for me was a coat from Germany. When I collected that, there were parcels from LV in the "customs" cupboard at the post office. Would not know their value but they were held on behalf of customs too.

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Must have been after July 2000 then?

The number of items bought online from overseas would have grown massively in the last 10 years. Would a PO be used to collect GST now? Where would they stack all the parcels, while waiting for customers to come in and pay their GST.

Retailers want anything from 1c on to be subject to GST (overseas purchases). 

Aps was suggesting a lowering of the GST threshold...not anything to do with customs tax (as items can be exempt from that).

What happened 10-14 years ago re collecting parcels from PO and paying customs tax may not be and probably isn't relevant today.

[amber-eyed-girl]

I expect that AP employees would hate it, but that AP would want some form of payment for processing. Which we would end up paying for in some way. They might look to Royal Mail to see how to work that out.

What happened back then is relevant to me with regards to this thread, as aps's recollection was queried. Other than that, with the volume of parcels having exploded and AP employees being reduced...would be interesting to see if they would collect anything on behalf of customs now.

[amber-eyed-girl]

With a storage issue, AP is promoting to all of us the ease of using their parcel locker pick up points. So they have storage for parcels (according to them, in theory, for parcels galore). In reality they might need to hold parcels at warehouses...maybe send the letter. We pay online or in the post office. Then, they deliver it. So it doesn't need storage at the local post office.

however it is managed it will be interesting.