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Australia has extensive VAT taxes, tariffs on top of that, and byzantine regulations that dissuade foreign firms from entering the market (they apply to digital
by drak0n1c 13y ago
Australia has extensive VAT taxes, tariffs on top of that, and byzantine regulations that dissuade foreign firms from entering the market (they apply to digital products too). When firms finally do they have to pass the legal costs and taxes on to the customer. Consumers in the rest of the world aren't going to pay for that difference. The real player saying 'fuck you' here is the Australian government.
- batiudrami 13y agoGST does not apply to products sold overseas and shipped to Australians for any product under $1000. For products supplied digitally, as far as I know there is no GST on any digital products, no matter what the value.
- vacri 13y agoBy 'extensive VAT taxes', do you mean "VAT half that of the UK"? As for tariffs, why is it that some games on steam are the same price as elsewhere and others, usually AAA games, are price-gouging? In any case, there are zero tariffs on digital goods between the US (where most games are made) and Australia, due to the free trade agreement. [1] So, you have an environment where there is less tax on the goods than in the UK, yet the prices are higher. The answer is not "government has its finger in the pie". In fact, the GST at 10% isn't that far off sales tax across the US, which is generally 7-9%, so seriously, the answer really, really isn't "taxes". [1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia%E2%80%93United_States_Free_Trade_Agreement#Electronic_commerce http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia%E2%80%93United_States...