Australians may face 10% tax on Steam transactions - Polidicks

God dam it -_- [QUOTE] The Australian government may introduce a 10% GST tax on 'intangible' digital goods in next week's budget, meaning [B]Steam prices could be on the rise.[/B] According to a report by Fairfax, the so called "Netflix tax" will affect imported digital goods including software, music and videos. [B]The new tax[/B], spearheaded by Assistant Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, has attracted nearly unanimous support by state treasurers, according to Fairfax's report. It appears to have the support of the opposition, too: Labor's treasury spokesperson Chris Bowen last week criticised the government for its failure to introduce measures to protect Australia-based retailers. [/QUOTE] Source: [url]http://www.pcgamer.com/australians-may-face-10-tax-fee-for-steam-transactions/[/url]

That's just silly.

cause they clearly didn't cost enough already

I have to wonder how they will enforce it with companies outside of Australia like Valve.

So like how is this implemented, does PayPal and Google Wallet have to add these fees on or is it done when anything is purchased with your debit card? It's silly but it's going to raise government profits, I just hate how everything is so fucking expensive for us and the government always asks in some silly manner "why are digital goods so high for us??"

Because it's not like we already have to pay $40 for a $30 game.

It's fair. Physical retailers have to collect GST, why should online retailers be exempt?

Besides if it is dependent on companies like Netflix or steam to implement, then what's stopping people from using other sites like cd key warehouses or even better just signing up for say Netflix with a VPN?

[QUOTE=~Kiwi~v2;47676034]What the fuck this is hilariously outrageous. Watch as every aussie gets on a VPN and starts paying USD prices again or better yet. Get their steam keys from GMG. Lmao good luck trying to keep that 10% tax.[/QUOTE] Then they pay GST on the VPN. And tax avoidance isn't very smart.

Hockey can suck a huge dick. We already pay out the ass for online services and software. No wonder why Australia is one of the largest pirating nations..

[QUOTE=~Kiwi~v2;47676042]Isn't digital goods already taxed?[/QUOTE] No. The situation at the moment is you don't pay GST for things you buy online that cost less than $1,000

On what end will this tax have to be on? If they put it on the user end it "might" work, but then you might end up with them being taxed for purchases of physical goods online accidentally. If they put it on the seller end, there will be minimal impact if the seller never implements the system.

[QUOTE=deadoon;47676067]On what end will this tax have to be on? If they put it on the user end it "might" work, but then you might end up with them being taxed for purchases of physical goods online accidentally. If they put it on the seller end, there will be minimal impact if the seller never implements the system.[/QUOTE] Seller collects GST equal to 10% of sales price, charged to the customer (it's a value-added tax). Seller then uses their GST collected to offset GST that they have paid themselves, and sends the remainder to the tax office.

[QUOTE=Antdawg;47676075]Seller collects GST equal to 10% of sales price. Seller then uses their GST collected to offset GST that they have paid themselves, and sends the remainder to the tax office.[/QUOTE] You completely missed the problem, how does Australia force a foreign entity that is directly contacted by the end user for the purchase to pay their taxes. Hence, why I said it would have minimal impact if the seller never implements the system.

Don't y'all already pay like $70-$120 for video games?

[QUOTE=deadoon;47676087]You completely missed the problem, how does Australia force a foreign entity that is directly contacted by the end user for the purchase to pay their taxes. Hence, why I said it would have minimal impact if the seller never implements the system.[/QUOTE] Because businesses follow the laws of the countries they do business in? Valve go as far as offering prices in AUD and they have legal representation in Australia, so they absolutely will charge GST. [editline]7th May 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=Snoberry Tea;47676090]Don't y'all already pay like $70-$120 for video games?[/QUOTE] Games in physical stores are GST inclusive, yet online stores charge the same price. If online retailers increase the GST inclusive price, people will go to physical retailers instead.

Oh fuck off. This is just bullshit, games are already expensive as shit costing 80-110 dollars. [editline]7th May 2015[/editline] "Hmm, I wonder why Australians pirate........Better pump up the prices so they stop."

i am totally okay with being a middleman for any of you aussies who want to not pay this tax [editline]7th May 2015[/editline] unless there are legal.ramifications i don't know about, lawyer users please advise me

I don't mind the tax, IF they drop the price to 60$ like literally everywhere else in the world. For fucks sake Australia

Tax evasion isn't cool. If the publishers felt like being fair they would take the tax off their margin and keep the price same for everyone.

[QUOTE=Antdawg;47676099]Because businesses follow the laws of the countries they do business in? Valve go as far as offering prices in AUD and they have legal representation in Australia, so they absolutely will charge GST. [/QUOTE] A company doesn't even need to use the currency of another country to sell stuff online. Dlsite for example only deals in yen, but you can purchase via credit card as most credit card companies automatically do currency conversions for a small charge. Since this law targets those selling digital goods, you would have to create a national blacklist or whitelist of acceptable retailers for digital purchases, which then would cause a problem if you use a digital wallet service. Then you could use that digital wallet to purchase goods from blacklisted sites. Blacklist the wallet, and you end up screwing over your own people. International digital purchases are a legal framework nightmare if you try to regulate them.

I've always questioned why they called it a 'global sales tax' when it was never globally applied. Good to see them taking it more literally! also please dont!!

[QUOTE=Lonestriper;47676159]I've always questioned why they called it a 'global sales tax' when it was never globally applied. Good to see them taking it more literally! also please dont!![/QUOTE] Goods and services tax, or I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic or not.

[QUOTE=Antdawg;47676166]Goods and services tax, or I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic or not.[/QUOTE] no, this time I was genuinely dumb!

[QUOTE=Antdawg;47676099]Because businesses follow the laws of the countries they do business in? Valve go as far as offering prices in AUD and they have legal representation in Australia, so they absolutely will charge GST.[/QUOTE] I'm pretty sure that hasn't gone through yet, my steam account is set to use the Australia store region and it still prices everything in USD. So for a $90 AAA new release, we actually end up paying ~$115 through Steam.

"Australia continuing in being a shitty place to live if you like videogames" Should really be the title for all of these.

Why do we always have to get absolutely shafted when it comes to video games

Is Australia still obsessed with monitoring game contain? Didn't they stop editions of GTA San andreas from being sold because of the hot coffee mod?

[QUOTE=Araknid;47676199]Why do we always have to get absolutely shafted when it comes to video games[/QUOTE] Because you get paid $20 per hour to pack shelves here but like only $8 per hour in the US. Considering that, games are actually cheaper here in terms of how many hours you need to work to save up for a game.

[QUOTE=Araknid;47676199]Why do we always have to get absolutely shafted when it comes to video games[/QUOTE] Yeah I bought GTA5 for around 96 AUD was pretty bad when I could of gotten it from those cd key sites