A new petition launched by local skincare entrepreneur Katey Mandy is challenging the New Zealand government to remove gst from the sale of sunscreen products. …
But is it fair to pay GST on a product that can save your life?
Katey Mandy, entrepreneur and founder of local skincare label Raaie, doesn't think so, and now she's urging you to join her mission to lobby the government to do away with GST on sunscreen altogether.
No, no, no, no ,no.
This is what happens when people start to see GST as a tax that should only be applied to some goods and services, and not others. Then every industry in NZ wants to be exempted – food, tampons, sunscreen.
You could make a case for no GST on doctors fees. No GST on sun hats.
GST is about efficiently collecting revenue. It is not about how good or not good a product is.
David Farrar runs Curia Market Research, a specialist opinion polling and research agency, and the popular Kiwiblog where this article was sourced. He previously worked in the Parliament for eight years, serving two National Party Prime Ministers and three Opposition Leaders.
6 comments:
Exactly right, and I’m puzzled why people don’t understand this.
A similar disastrous argument could be made for other taxes, such as income tax (“Why should essential workers such as doctors pay income tax? And aren’t rubbish collectors essential, too? And, and, and…”) and corporate tax (If no GST on sunscreen, why corporate tax on sunscreen manufacturers? Etc, etc.).
If tax is sliced and diced like this, the bureaucracy to manage it would become enormous. Plus who would be left to carry the increased tax burden created by the loss in tax revenue?
LFC
GST on rates ?
A tax on a tax ?
The cost of such an exercise would no doubt cost the same, or more than the tax saved. Incidentally, why are some businesses which are based on race pay no tax because they are registered as charities?
Kevan
this is taught in 'social media' school - say something dumb & wait for people to pile on with comments. then have a crying session with media about how cruel public is towards ___ (insert proper victimhood status here: women, single mothers, small businesses, kiwi businesses, etc.)
we all know that the end result will be nothing. however, the social media team would have met their KPIs. then add this to their case studies and move on with the next sales pitch. cheers!
You pay GST on top of petrol tax each time you refuel your car. What other tricks are there like this?
There isn't any evidence that sunscreen reduces skin cancer rates in the general population. Indeed, since the introduction of sunscreen skin cancer rates have risen in every country in which it has been promoted. What we have is marketing slogans and conflicts of interest in which cancer foundations, including the skin cancer foundation receive funding from sunscreen manufacturers and big pharma. Sunscreen isn't a profitable business, but cancer treatment is.
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