Why australians can not explain GST to me well?please just answer what I asked?

Question

When I ask what GST is they tell me what it stands for and it was replaced by the wholesale tax in the past and .....etc etc but no one tells me exactly what the reason behind it is to me clearly in a good example....no one answers my question....no one can make me understood of the tax system...ok..now we start again..I work and I earn some money so I pay tax for the government to be able to do basic structure for the community...now if I am employed my employer witholds the tax but what if I am not employed and I get paid for what I do from someone else...here is ABN for this purpose?and now what the h**l is GST why when I buy a fridge I have to pay a different tax to the government called GST...if that is because the person who has made that fridge should pay that tax for what he earns then why he should not be responsible for paying that tax and instead the consumer should pay that tax unless the government has made that fridge itself and asks for something as tax?

Answer 1

GST is a consumption tax.  Almost every first world country has something similar.

Answer 2

GST is a broad based tax system on GOODS  and SERVICES only. They DO NOT encompass Pay As You Go tax, which is a tax when you are employed - totally different tax.

GST is only paid ONCE, on any item - at the point of sale: when goods are manufactured, basic materials used to manufacture them are purchased wholesale, by companies who are registered business (with the tax office and who use ABN's - if no ABN then the person buying the goods pays GST on the basic goods, as well).

A service, such as dry-cleaning, car-washing, electrician, plumber, restaurant, etc (anyone who is registered and sells a service to the consumer) also collects GST, as it is a service tax, as well. The servicer also forwards this tax on to the Australian Tax Office.

The company who sells the item, or fulfils the service, collects the tax from the consumer and passes it on to the tax office.

GST came about because a lot of other countries already had it (they say that it seems to work) and because one of our Prime Ministers had a dream that he could change the world, so he started to change the world and was finished.

The GST is a tax applied only once on any one good or service, when you are invoiced by the seller or servicer.

If, including the link below, is not enough basic information, then try the Australian Tax Office website!

Answer 3

The GST is a goods and services tax. It applies to some goods and services but not to others. Essential foods are supposed to be GST free, but take away food is not. Health services are GST, but other services are not. Blame our government for the confusion. We are all confused about it. If you are self employed and you do work for someone else you need an ABN number. A lot of countries have some form of ths GST thing. In the UK they VAT. It is supposed to be an across the board tax to ensure that everyone pays their taxes, whereas if you are self employed or own any sort of business it is possible to minimise your tax by various methods. Ask your accountant.

Answer 4

Are you thick or just plain stupid.  You have been given very good answers and you still ask the same question, I think you need proffesional help.

Answer 5

Goods and Services Tax was introduced as a broad taxation system to replace a number of different taxes that were in place. GST does not pay the income tax for the person responsible for manufacturing goods.

It has nothing to do with tax payable on income. The person building your fridge will pay the same income tax you do, and also pay the same GST you do when they make a purchase.

Answer 6

A while ago, then Prime Minister John Howard decided that because poor people didn't make enough money to pay income tax, he'd lower income tax rates and introduce a new tax, the GST, which everyone has to pay, even if they're unemployed.  It's simply a 10% tax on most goods and services.  Specifically it's a tax on the purchase of goods and services, which is why you have to pay it when you buy a fridge rather than when you sell one.  The person who sells you the fridge has to give your GST to the government, which is separate from his income tax.

Answer 7

Put it simply its another excuse for the government to get more money out of us, they don't tell the people that he still get a chunk out of the hidden taxes in the items already as for the fuel prices the gov. neglets to say that they take a big of the pie , not the oil companies whom many blame.Everything is alot more expensive with the GST. ,including insurances, utilities & food we don't like it but we haven't any choice in the matter.

Answer 8

I think people are explaining it quite well, but to see the root of the information look at:

ATO GST

http://www.ato.gov.au/businesses/content...

Answer 9

It is difficult to answer your question since it is not very clear.

At the simplest level, the reason for having a GST is the same as having any tax: to raise money so that the government can provide services to the community. But why have the GST as well as income tax? The argument used is that some people have been able to rort the income tax system and avoid paying their fare share. To make sure that these people pay at least some tax, the GST was introduced as a tax on spending as well as income.

The rates of income tax are now lower than what they were before the GST was introduced, so in theory you are paying less tax on your income, in return for which the government collects tax on some of the things that you buy. In practice, the government is almost certainly collecting more money in total, but people notice it less than they would if they paid it all in their tax bills each year.

Answer 10

You've asked this many times and you've received some great answers over the last two days.

How many times does this have to be explained to you?

You need to get over your problem of why we pay GST.

Maybe you don't like it but we do pay GST, whether we like it or not.

There is no choice involved.

I'll try and put my explanation in very simple terms for you.

The GST is a TAX!

Every country has more than one kind of tax.

The Australian government gets the money from this tax and other taxes, to pay for social security payments, health care, roads and all the other things taxes pay for.

It is purely and simply a TAX!!!!!!!

An ABN (Australian Business Number) is a reference number, given to a business, so the Australian Tax Office knows exactly who you are.

It's like a Tax File Number only for a business.

I hope you understand it now. Good luck.

Edit: It's definitely not true that EVERYTHING is more expensive with GST added. A great many items are very much less expensive, now, than they were before GST.

Answer 11

Elmina's answer is just about perfect. Put that together with the very good example another answerer gave you in your other question and that's all it's possible to tell you.

If you don't like what they're telling you, that's too bad, but it's the way it is.

Answer 12

The Goods and Services Tax is an impost - an added income for the Government.

Governments need income (money) to make sure they can provide services themselves, and to build infrastructure. Infrastructure means roads, schools, public buildings like courts and prisons, bus and railways stations and so forth.

Your fridge costs a bit extra to buy because of the added 10% GST. The retailer who sold you the fridge has to collect the tax (yes - they act as tax collectors for the Govt) they keep it all and send it to the Tax Dept every three months or so.

The Income Tax you pay is still money for the Government to do stuff with. One kind of Tax is not enough. There are several different kinds of Tax for different kinds of things.

Most of the GST stays in your state, and parks and wildlife, research and development, land management, ocean management, all that is paid from it. It would be a mess without your money.

Most people have to pay different kinds of Taxes and imposts. There are: Goods and services taxes, Income taxes, Import taxes, road taxes (collected by sellers of petrol), luxury goods taxes, cigarette taxes, liquour taxes and so forth.

Just because you pay Income tax does not mean you can be free of other taxes - they are all there to make sure you are comfortable, have security, can educate your children, have buses and trains to take you around, have a council to take away your rubbish (the rates we pay to councils are a bit like taxes) and all the things that you take for granted, but could not live without.

We are not taxed as much in Australia as some other countries, where their Goods and Services taxes are exorbitant (but they have so many more people to look after). They also pay higher Income Tax.

People who sell and make fridges are also paying their Income Tax... your GST is not replacing anyone's unpaid taxes. It is providing your own comfort, services, hospitals, roads, police, and so forth.

I hope this explains what you need to know.

Answer 13

That's really offensive saying "why australian's can not explain gst to me well". Perhaps you need to learn proper english so we can understand your question properly.

Your ABN is your AUSTRALIAN BUSINESS NUMBER.  You do not need one unless you have a business.

If you work you pay tax for a range of things, not just infrastructure.

Your rant about the fridge doesn't make sense. You pay tax for buying the thing, they pay tax for selling it.

Go on a government website.  If this is the same person asking the question as yesterday, one person even provided a link for you.  Do your own research, you can't be spoon fed your whole life.