LinuxSA Mailing list archives

  From: SBS expt <ara@neWave.net.au>
  To  : LINUX SA Mail'g List <LINUXSA@linuxsa.org.au>
  Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1998 11:36:53 +1030

Re: ACS on Importing Books - Any Duty? Any Taxes

> From: Rob Mayfield <Rob.Mayfield@digital.com>
> Subject: RE: ACS on Importing Books - Any Duty?  Any Taxes
> Date: Thursday, 19 November 1998 17:34
 
> You might want to check that 37 copies of the same book

(For 35% off, it's 31... but who's counting...  ;)  )

> will be accepted as
> "Entry for Home Consumption" - and that you can convince what amounts to
a
> tax collection agency of that ...

Good Idea!

And... (just now) done!

The Good News is:

  I am assured (by ACS on 1300 363 263) that:

    It doesn't matter, in this case, since there is

      No Duty (a.k.a. Tariff) -and-
      No Tax

    on Books, in any quantity.

The only risk I can imagine, in principle, might come
from ATO... e.g. if they saw somebody importing books
*every* month (if the other chap's "Book-of-the-Month-
Club" takes flight, as indeed it should).

But in such a case, people might just see it as an in-
dication that it's time for LINUX SA to become an as-
sociation... with all the overhead that can bring with
it...

(Or maybe NOT... It just could be that the *lack* of
all that overhead is what's keeping LINUX SA crisp.)

Is there an Accountant in the house...?  ;)
i.e. to offer an educated guess on the
probability of above risk being some-
thing to worry about (e.g. for the per-
son ordering all the books)?

Of course, another (low-overhead, high-
fairness) means would be ordering each
month's pile of books under a differ-
ent name, and having them sent to a
different address...

Or we could campaign for more rational
Customs & Tax legislation... ones that
acknowledge that - now that we *KNOW*
how to create such "on-the-fly" coop-
erative purchases (on the order-level)
that these systems should *encourage*
such cooperation between people...

Nah... nobody's got the time to make a
gov't listen to it's *non-accounting*
technical professional community... or
am I wrong?  (I honestly HOPE I am...)

(After all, individuals spontaneously
coming together for projects for their
common good can only be good for a coun-
try... it's a good habit to get into...

One thing leads to another... we might
get some nice software out of this, in
the long run.. and I, for one, would be
happy to see a Newton 2000, Mayfield 2000,
AusStarOffice 2000, etc. come to LINUX
platforms near you...  ;)

-- 
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