The Australian Traders Group (ATG) has called on all side of politics to support Australian retailers and commit to reducing the Low Value Import Threshold (LVIT) from the current $1000 limit after the Federal election in September.
Spokesperson for the group and Australian Retailers Association (ARA) Executive Director Russell Zimmerman said the continued delays in reducing the threshold were impacting on jobs and State Government revenue in a significant way.
“The Government has delayed a final decision on LVIT to after the September 14 election with the final Customs and Australia Post business cases not expected until that date,” he said.
“Industry groups are calling for whoever is in Government to make the decision as soon as the costing reports are handed to them by the end of September.”
According to the ATG, if a reduction to $20 in the threshold from the current $1000 collection rate begins as soon as the election is over, anywhere from $500,000 to $1 billion GST could be collected in the 2014-15 financial year, rapidly growing to well over $1 billion in the following few years, according to last year’s LVIT Taskforce report.
“The ATG acknowledges the costs for collecting GST on overseas good is significant, but with the work currently being undertaken by Customs and Australia Post to reduce those costs, we are certain state governments will be in a position to meet those costs, as they will benefit from the extra revenue,” Zimmerman said.