Australian retailers, most prominently Gerry Harvey, have a legitimate point that they aren’t on a level playing with overseas online retailers for goods priced under $1,000, for which the Government doesn’t (and can’t) enforce the collection of GST.  This is why Assistant Treasurer Bill Shorten has been forced to base his argument against the retailers’ proposal on the Government’s inability to enforce GST collection for imported goods under $1,000, given our limited number of Customs officers:

Shorten puts a dampener on GST push

Shorten makes a good point, and the retailers push to lower the $1,000 threshold will probably not be supported by the current Productivity Commission review of the issue. Nonetheless, a lot of the criticism directed against Gerry Harvey and other retailers has been over the top:

Gerry Harvey retreats from war on online shopper

Geoff Kitney in the Financial Review this morning is particularly fired up:

The economic Neanderthals are not dead yet but, boy, are they out of touch.  It should come as no surprise that a section of the business community that has some special pleading to do for a cosy little bit of protection would believe that revving up a public campaign was a sure way of forcing the Gillard government to cave in and give it what it wants.

I admire Mr Kitney’s passionate distaste for industry protection – of which there remains too much in Australia, particular on the auto industry – but this isn’t an industry protection issue.  It’s an issue regarding the equitable application of the GST in a world in which online sales from overseas are rapidly increasing.