GST price rises ... the good & bad

[Buzz Bumble]

And the proof of this latest Government stupidity begins ... :(

The first product I've looked at, and it is already over-priced thanks to there no longer being any 5c coins. Because it arrives on shop shelves on Thursdays, the latest TV Guide has two prices on the cover:

$2.10 in GST
$2.20 inc GST from 1 October

but the real new price should only be $2.15, so it costs 5c more than it should, no matter whether you're paying by cash or electronically. That 5c may not seem like much, but there's going to be LOTS and LOTS of products that will easily fall foul of this trap, and combining all those extra 5c in weekly shopping can very quickly erode and bypass any supposed tax cut benefits.

On the plus side, the second product I've looked at was the Weekend Herald (and yesterday's NZ Herald) which hasn't changed its price ... yet! This weekend's issue is still the same $3 price as last weekend and Friday's issue was still $1.90.

[reelcollectibles]

And the proof of this latest Government stupidity begins ... :(

Not to mention a pain in the butt for us small businesses, and I agree Buzz, simple stupidity. Being just a simple man trying to make his way in the universe gets harder and harder.

[Buzz Bumble]

More "bad" price rises.

Apparently the public transport prices in Kapiti have gone up by more than the extra 2.5% GST (way more in the case of the train!).

Train ticket today was up from $7 to $10.50!!
Bus was up from $2.50 to $3!

When instead they should have been train = $7.15 and bus = $2.56 ... although yet again the "missing 5c piece" means it would have to be $7.20 and $2.60.

[Buzz Bumble]

According to an article in yesterday's NZ Herald, there's a Government report that suggests raising GST to 20% and further lowering (only?) the high end tax rates. It's not called Government Stupidity Tax for nothing.

Thankfully in the article Bill English said he had "no plans" to raise GST further ... of course he meant no plans this week, but it's anyone's guess what will happen in the future.

[Archon Revuge]

Completely agree with you on this one Buzz. I wouldn't have minded the 2.5% increase so much, but unfortunately it seems to have given license for many companies to raise their prices far more than this.