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Australians may face 10% tax on Steam transactions

L

L~A

Member
Politicians coming up with sh*tty ideas... I see that those ideas certainly aren't region-locked.

As if prices weren't already bad enough in Australia... unbelievable.
 
jediyoshi

jediyoshi

Member
*Australians may face 10% tax on digital transactions

Should DD services preemptively lower prices to keep the end user prices the same? I don't see their government giving two shits about the end result either way as long as they're getting that money.
 
C

Corpekata

Banned
Wouldn't this affect all digital platforms (like PSN and Live)? It talks about Steam because the source is PCgamer, but if this goes through it sounds like it'll be on any digital purchase.
 
TheRedSnifit

TheRedSnifit

Member
God, everything's so expensive in Australia. I'd be surprised if there were a product that didn't have a thriving black market.
 
Ban Puncher

Ban Puncher

Member
HiK2eoG.gif
 
Z

Zushin

Member
Fuck sake. So now it'll be:

- Publishers making the price ~$20 more for no reason
- US to AUD conversion
- +10%

Fantastic. So a $60 game suddenly becomes $110 (based on current exchange rate)
 
K

Kvik

Member
As long as VPN-based circumvention techniques can still be applied to purchases, it's business as usual.

The cost of being an Australian. :-\
 
O

Omnii-chan

Member
Some game companies already changed price for Australia and charge $89.99 USD.

So not only the mark up of USD to AUD to about $105-110AU dollars, but now add 10% more? Are you fucking kidding me...

$120 AU for a digital game?

Fuck this country I live in.
 
V

Vidal

Member
Sure, why not, we are already paying australian prices ($79) in dollar, paying with australian currency, paying transaction tax and now gst.

Great. :|
 
T

toddhunter

Member
jediyoshi said:
*Australians may face 10% tax on digital transactions

Should DD services preemptively lower prices to keep the end user prices the same? I don't see their government giving two shits about the end result either way as long as they're getting that money.
Click to expand...

Why not? They have ready increased them by 50% for no good reason.

I wouldn't expect this to change much to be honest. Publishers will just have to gouge slightly less and meanwhile no sane Australian will pay their prices.
 
S

saunderez

Member
I don't see how they can possibly police this. For physical goods you can hold it at the border, intangibles are going to be a honesty system at the very best. No foreign entity is under any obligation to collect tax for the Australian Government.
 
The Giant

The Giant

Banned
Who's idea was to dub the online gst tax "Netflix Tax"? Was it one of retards who work at one of Rupert Murdoch's corporation?
 
L

Lazaro

Member
Its sometimes cheaper to buy a boxed SteamWorks enabled game then the actual digital product. Especially if your importing.
 
A

Andiie

Unconfirmed Member
The Giant said:
Who's idea was to dub the online gst tax "Netflix Tax"? Was it one of retards who work at one of Rupert Murdoch's corporation?
Click to expand...

I may be wrong but I was under the impression that it was because of Netflix that this was even considered or at least hurried along. Other companies were whinging when Netflix was allowed to launch at such a low cost due to no tax unlike other places like Quickflix etc.
 
D

Dmax3901

Member
Fucking bullshit. I've had shitty internet for almost three weeks now. And even at full capacity it'd be far slower than the rest of the worlds. Now this too?
 
L

Locamotable

Member
Im not against the taxing of international digital goods that would otherwise be making pure profit. If retail games can be 60 to 80 $ in retail in Aus i see no reason why the digital price of games should go any higher.

Instead of immediately throwing in with valve how about we demand they absorb most if not all of the cost and pay there fair fucking share?
 
A

Andiie

Unconfirmed Member
TP-DK said:
Does that mean that there are no taxes on digital products in Australia right now?
Click to expand...

They can't collect GST on services sold in Australia from companies based overseas which is why Steam and Netflix as examples are excluded.
 
D

Dryk

Member
Increasing prices over this would be stupid. The GST already applies to almost every physical product sold in Australia. The goal here is simple:

- Make both digital and physical retailers pay the same taxes for goods sold in Australia
- Compensate for falling tax revenue

That doesn't mean that online retailers won't raise prices further and keep pocketing the extra but they really shouldn't.

TP-DK said:
Does that mean that there are no taxes on digital products in Australia right now?
Click to expand...
There might be, but they don't currently fall under the GST for some reason.
 
J

Jintor

Member
If my conclusions are correct it's because Point of Sale transactions technically take place in Bellvue USA

this is a consequence of the netflix tax being pushed currently ostensibly by the LNP but primarily by Murdoch

in true fairness I can't say that foreign companies selling digital products in Australia shouldn't pay tax but to pretend that somehow them not having GST is what's making foxtel non-competitive is pretty amusing. and by amusing I mean total bullshit.
 
G

GeekBoy

Neo Member
My heart goes out to AusGAF.

You guys got all those scary-ass killer animals, and y'all have to pay these crazy-ass prices for games..

Why is it that Australia seems to draw the shortest straw all the time?
 
DJ_Lae

DJ_Lae

Member
That's really shitty given prices are already high.

It's a similarly weird situation in Canada. Most services charge tax - I think Steam is one of a few who don't, along with PSN.

I expect to be taxed on Steam purchases at some point too.
 
D

Dryk

Member
Jintor said:
If my conclusions are correct it's because Point of Sale transactions technically take place in Bellvue USA
Click to expand...
Does mean that this is technically an import tariff? Could they run into free-trade problems? I don't know how law works.

Jintor said:
in true fairness I can't say that foreign companies selling digital products in Australia shouldn't pay tax but to pretend that somehow them not having GST is what's making foxtel non-competitive is pretty amusing. and by amusing I mean total bullshit.
Click to expand...
Foxtel is still going to be shit, but it might extend the life of brick-and-mortar media retailers a bit.
 
E

Edsmells12345

Member
Cripple the NBN which in it's original form would have given Australia something resembling a 21st century internet connection, and then tax any digital purchases.

Guess I'll continue to vote for who I least want in power rather than the other way around.

+1 Sex Party
 
S

Striek

Member
Would suck but its understandable too, so whatever. Tax is a necessity of life.

Ripoff merchant publishers gouging the fuck out of us isn't necessary, but its the way of life atm even without tax involved.
 
W

wonzo

Banned
I know Apple already factors in the GST when buying stuff from iTunes/AppStore. Wonder who else does.

potatomanbourke said:
Cripple the NBN which in it's original form would have given Australia something resembling a 21st century internet connection, and then tax any digital purchases.

Guess I'll continue to vote for who I least want in power rather than the other way around.

+1 Sex Party
Click to expand...
lmao
 
P

Paz

Member
I'm sorta OK with this? Steam operates servers in Australia and is practically an Australian business for folks within this country, they were gonna introduce pricing in AUD I thought too.

If EB sells a game it includes GST, if Steam wants to set up shop proper in Australia I think they should too (Though it's a grey area how much of Steam is a US company that just happens to let Australians buy stuff I guess).

As a developer I'm fine with having to include GST in the cost of what I charge Australians, it's not Steam's fault that Activision double the price of their games in USD when selling to Australian IP's and they aren't even paying fkn tax here!
 
J

Jintor

Member
wonzo said:
I know Apple already factors in the GST when buying stuff from iTunes/AppStore. Wonder who else does.
Click to expand...

generally if they have a physical presence in australia they tend to pay gst. from memory I think psn and xbla pay gst... maybe ea and ubi as well. can't remember though.
 
D

Dryk

Member
Does the ATO already have the powers to collect debt from citizens residing overseas or are they going to legislate that? Because that might be part of the answer.
 
N

nasanu

Banned
It's Rupert Murdoch. He openly installed the current pm, used him to try to kill off the national broadband network to thus kill entities like Netflix that way, that only half succeeded. Now he wants to hit them via price all so he can keep charging insane prices for foxtell.

I know that sounds like a conspiracy theorist rant but do your homework, it's really happening.
 
Mohonky

Mohonky

Member
Cool, so now its;

- game priced at Australian RRP
- charged in US currency so + exchange rate difference
- +10% on top for GST.

Good one. Thank fuck for GMG and sales.
 
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