politics

It is pretty much a forgone conclusion that GST will soon raise to 15%, and much has been written about possible impacts to the low-income worker, pensioners and small businesses I occurred to me yesterday that this could impact anybody like me, who imports gadgets or anything else from overseas.

Under current importing regulations GST is calculated on all imports (based on the value of the item imported and shipping), but will only be collected if the GST exceeds $50. This means that we can import items up to $400 without being taxed. If GST raises to 15% and the $50 GST limit remains the same, we will be able to import items no more than $333.33 without attracting GST.

Bother.

(Picture by Don Solo. / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Labour MP Trevor Mallard asked in Parliament whether the ad had been arranged before or after Mr English had used a seven-letter word beginning with f, followed by a four-letter word beginning with c, when talking to the person in charge of editorial policy for TVNZ.

-- http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/3005275/English-no-influence-over-controversial-TV-ad
'nuff said