I don't mean to be blunt Lux but thats just plain wrong and...

I don't mean to be blunt Lux but thats just plain wrong and whoever said it is showing extreme ignorance. The GST is not a tariff. Its applied to all goods irrespective of origin including those made here in AU. Furthermore I assume you know that the US has a 10% GST also, but they call it VAT. Then they have state and city taxes also added to a lot of things on top of that. What they are doing now is adding additional import taxes (tariffs) on imported goods so that the cost of the goods goes up before they even get to the stores. Those taxes will be paid by US consumers because US retailers have absolutely no intention of taking a bath and selling the goods below cost.

So here is the kicker Lux. If prices go up say 20% (average for example only) because of tariffs, then you also need to apply another 10% VAT on top of that so actual prices go up by 22%. Its called compound taxation. Our govt does similar despicable things like charging you stamp duty on insurance policies then changing you GST on the duty.

I got back from the US recently and I'm very glad I don't live there any more. I like the US very much and still have lots of friends there but its expensive and getting hard to run a business there. AU$12 - 15 for a pretty average coffee. Food was outrageous. Half the population are going to have a few very difficult years as they have no way to protect themselves from this crap unlike many of us.

Please Lux if you chose to listen to random people who have no idea what they are talking about, we may as well get Smackybot back to tell us how well BIT is doing !