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At last,
the contents of Aardvark's "million-dollar ideas" notebook
are revealed for all to see!
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Come on folks -- I'm starting to run low on material for Friday's Lighten-up
section again.
The Hyperdimensional Resonator
The blurb says "The Hyper Dimensional Resonator is one of the most advanced
instruments of it's kind in the entire world" and quite frankly I believe
them -- only because I doubt it has any competition!
The NZ Space Agency
I bet you didn't even know that Kiwis were heading up their own mission
to explore space!
Tax The Net?
If it weren't for the fact that the NZ dollar is now referred to in some
circles as the "South Pacific Peso" buying products from overseas websites
might be a very attractive option -- particularly in light of the fact that
most of the time you pay no GST on products or services sourced this way.
What? No GST? Egads -- we can't have that!
How can we keep the beehive clad in glorious endangered rainforest timbers
and what will the arts do without their Prime Ministerial food-parcels should
even a single dollar escape the grasp of the IRD?
It's only natural that the tax man would seek to close up any gaping holes
in the fabric of the tax system by slamming some kind of tax on Net-purchases
but I'm blowed if I can figure out exactly what
this story from Infotech
is talking about.
It talks about the prospect of slapping GST on internet service providers for
services they export.
Nowhere in the article does it describe what chargeable services an NZ ISP
might offer to a foreign peer -- but perhaps someone in the industry could
let me know.
Besides which, surely any Net-based goods or services which are exported should be
treated as zero-rated for GST purposes -- unless the Net was to be given a special
"tax-em till they bleed" status.
Of course, if the service was webhosting then there might be a problem -- because
if the website was charged to an off-shore party but some of those who visited
it were NZ-resident then, to adhere to the letter of the law, GST should be paid
on the percentage of the service that was consumed locally.
Of course this would produce nightmarish compliance costs if it were to be
enforced -- but hey, the IRD have never been afraid to place an added burden
on the taxpayer have they?
While the issue of taxing the Net here in NZ seems to be bubbling away at a
low level, I can guarantee that it will eventually become a real bone of
contention and be seen as yet another wallet to raid. Bookmark this page
now and return in two years time.
As always, your feedback is welcomed.
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Did you tell someone else about Aardvark today? If not then do it
now!
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