AUSTRALIA postage, not a happy camper.

[Kerry]

I post this on this forum because I think more Aussies read this than the numbers of followers of local face book sites.
For many years the vendors have post parts from the USA via USPS for us to receive by Australia post at our end, worked OK.
Then FedEx started, worked fine and quick as well.
So my last order started out as an email invoice that it's on it's way, good, the following day an email to notify me to notify FedEx of tracking No and a credit card No to pay taxes. Well I knew it had to happen soon enough for our government wanting GST for stuff coming in. So open an account with FedEx Australia.

So the money trail starts, first I see that the bank charged 41% on the dollar difference, our dollar difference is around 30 cents in the dollar, a few days later a debit on my credit card to FedEx for taxes amounting to 20% of the Australian dollar purchase price,WHY! our GST is 10% So wait for FedEx email invoice. break down was, GST of 10% then Duty & Tax + an Electronic Entry for Formal Entry, this amounted to the extra 10% on the total AU$ price. Pi**ed off on behalf of the people I do the jobs for.

With the cost of living taking a sharp increase up and no pay rises, the poor old T is becoming a rich mans hobbie.

[Allan]

What really gets up my goat is the trend for US firms and Ebay etc charging taxes and duties up front. We know if we keep our orders under $500 to ^$600 dollars our postal service does not collect duties or the 10% GST. So, who has the money? Is it ever passed on to the Australian government?

At first FED_EX was faster and cheaper than USPS. Not anymore, and the up front fees are unfathomable. Good on Lang's for reverting to USPS.

Allan from down under.

[TXGOAT2]

Vote the pukes out.

[babychadwick]

Some friends I work with import flintlocks and with whats been going on there has been some supply issues to just get the stuff already sold. Shipping increased from an average of about 3,000 to 17,000 most of which they have to eat because charging someone more after they have already paid is wrong. As far as voting people out they are dealing with other countries and when has the other side actually reversed course? About the best you can hope for is a status quo.

[Henry K. Lee]

Welcome to the new normal of a global economy!!!!!

Hank

[John kuehn]

I believe it’s called Build Back Broke. It’s full steam going for broke!

[Allan]

Pat, did you blokes get a chance to vote for Ebay? They are the ones who have the set-up to collect duties and taxes which we do not pay if we order from Lamg's. And it's not just on new stuff either.

Allan from down under.

[Novice]

E-bay collects sales tax for all the states. but do the states every see the money and unlike sales tax collected in Your home state. no one seems to be checking the amount of sales paid to whom and what tax is due. I am subject to audit by the state comptroller for my total sales and tax collections. and accessed a penalty if not paid within twenty day of due date.
who audits e-bay?

[TXGOAT2]

The only vote I have vis a vis e-bay is my choice of whether to use e-bay or not. I choose not to. As for limitless taxation, regulations, and injunctions, the certain imposition and proliferation of all of that BS is a fundamental problem with a democracy, or most any other form of tyranny, as opposed to a functional constitutional republic, in which there are definite limits on what can be put to a vote, and over what government can and cannot do. The USA was once a functional constitutional republic, with limited government and broad popular liberty. It could be again. The republic began to break down during the Civil War era, and the decay accellerated with the imposition of the income tax and continues to accellerate with a metastasizing complex of "programs".

[TXGOAT2]

I don't know how, or if, de facto tax collectors, like e-bay, are held accountable by the various entities that are nominally the owners of the vast wealth so extracted.

[Scott_Conger]

Who cares if eBay collects sales tax or not? Every US taxpayer has been asked for years if they bought anything tax-free on-line, and if they did, they were supposed to report it and remit appropriate tax to their state authority.

Everyone did this, with great care and accurate accounting, right?

Without arguing the propriety of taxation and notwithstanding the original complaint in this thread, it seems that the greatest howling is due to the fact that some entity (eBay for example) is taking care of the accounting that most folks unwittingly or fraudulently ignored in the first place.

Not all laws are moral, and not all law-breaking is immoral...

[TRDxB2]

I don't know how, or if, de facto tax collectors, like e-bay, are held accountable by the various entities that are nominally the owners of the vast wealth so extracted.

Prior to the Supreme Court’s 2018 decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, only businesses with a physical presence in a state could be required to collect that state’s sales tax. The Wayfair case overturned this “physical presence standard,” granting states the authority to tax remote sales in which the seller lacked a physical presence in the state.
Now, 43 of 45 states with statewide sales taxes have adopted collection and remittance obligations for remote sellers, and 40 have implemented so-called marketplace facilitator regimes (platforms such as eBay, Etsy, or Amazon Marketplace).
So basically all on-line sellers need to collect sales tax.
Technically, States always required the buyer to pay the appropriate sales tax to the State if none was collected at the time of sale.

[TXGOAT2]

Well, I suppose government ought to collect all of everyone's income, up-front, and once all of their assigned obligations to government and "society" are met, remit to each a sensible allowance, if any residue remains, and if they qualify. We've moved a long way in that direction here in the USA, and if nothing else, we can be damned sure of one thing: We'll never have a shortage of government, and beyond that, government will be ever-vigilant in seeing to it that everyone, except certain favored persons and institutions, pays their "fair share", and receives their "just due", if any. 100% with-holding for all! (Stinks like Stalin's Russia, if you ask me)

[Ken Buhler]

On May 24, 3000.00 worth of parts was sent by UPS to me in Canada. The vendor posted my phone number and email on the order and that I was self clearing the brokerage. On May 31, I got a sticker on my door stating I owed 771.57, including 226.66 brokerage plus tax on brokerage. For me, taxes on the parts are not the issue, and we do not have duty on vintage car parts. I called and they insisted I pay brokerage. I disagreed and was told by them anything over 3000.00 requires me to engage them. I called Customs and Border Services and was told me UPS was lying. Back and forth for three days, I paid the taxes at CBSA and then I found they sent it back to the vendor on June 2. They didn't call or email to say the shipment was here. That was an act of protest for me not paying the extortion fee after they were paid 500.00 to bring it to me. Now they are returning it to me at no extra cost. What a stupid move. TAKE NOTE CANADIANS! You can self clear, just pay the taxes.

[Henry K. Lee]

Good for you Ken! A bunch of crap! Challenge their butts!

Hank