No GST on Fresh Fruit and Vegies

Forums › Off topic › No GST on Fresh Fruit and Vegies

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

4631 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 874

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#542269 7-Nov-2011 22:08

richms:
nakedmolerat:
..... those 'fresh grocer' also have GST on it.. right? afaik GST is not only for supermarket items. if they are already cheap, you can expect cheaper price

It goes to show that the price is still not a reason that people dont buy fruit and vegies.

1. i am not sure how did you reach that conclusion.

2. veges/fruits price has increased steadily over the last few years. on top of that GST has also been increased recently. removing GST at least will reduce the price for the customers. if i spent $50 for fruit/vege per week - i will save $30 in one month.

richms

29099 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10210

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#542274 7-Nov-2011 22:17

jfanning:
richms:
Fresh n save in birkenhead has done me well for veges as well as strange frozen asian deepfriables and also constantly has the best price on Dr Pepper and cherry coke imports

Wrong end of the country I'm afraid. But these places don't exist everywhere, and where they do, they are a considerable drive to get there, canceling out all the benefits of going to them

Well there are several out otahuhu, mt wellington and other parts of south auckland where I believe most of the poor eating choices are made. The big problem I have with it now im working a propper job is the hours they are open, new world is open late so I can get stuff on the way home.

There are also many fruit worlds etc around the place too. Some of them have sort of late nights it would appear.

Richard rich.ms

Talkiet

4819 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3934

Trusted

#542280 7-Nov-2011 22:23

richms: [snip]This policy is total idiocy IMO. Many healthy options are excluded. Like the preprepared salads that are a viable option if you dont want to buy bucketloads of fresh stuff that will go off before it all gets eaten etc.

So what you're saying is that Labour is DISCRIMINATING against single people or couples with no children, by only going after GST-exempt status for food that typically will go off before a single person can use it all?

Cheers - N

ps. No, I'm not seriously suggestng that's their intent - but I've seen more tenuous arguments made in politics :-)

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

Talkiet

4819 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3934

Trusted

#542281 7-Nov-2011 22:25

Zeon: But seriously, what idiot buys fruit and veges from the supermarket anyway. Fresh grocer or side of the road stalls often have great deals that I guarantee are more than 15% cheaper than the supermarket.

The idiot that only wants to go shopping once, the idiot that is prepared to pay a convenience fee for getting everything in one place? The idiot that appreciates some supermarkets CAN do a better job of packaging fresh fruit and veges...

Or, put another way... Lots of people.

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

lucky015

746 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 182

ID Verified

Trusted

#542288 7-Nov-2011 22:45

I suspect there are as many people annoyed with Labour for creating policies trying to control peoples eating choices as there are happy for them trying to promote healthy eating, If not more.

Until such point as they suggest removing GST from ALL FOOD, I could not care less.

1080p

1332 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 152
Inactive user

#542291 7-Nov-2011 22:56

Any kind of GST free option is retarded. The GST return to the government will be reduced and consequent strain added elsewhere. When combined with Labour's plans to pull us out of debt by borrowing money I do not see this actually helping those in need of fresh fruit and vegetables.

Additionally, when we take into account the likelihood that prices on those items will go up when the ETS legislation is finalised I do not see what we're helping here. Adding strain to the economy by losing income on GST from fresh fruit and vegetables, increasing the price on those vegetables so those on low incomes still won't buy them and generating a whole ton of bureaucracy in between.

Mighty Ape

Shop now at Mighty Ape (affiliate link).

mattwnz

20515 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 4795

#542293 7-Nov-2011 22:58

Talkiet:
richms: [snip]This policy is total idiocy IMO. Many healthy options are excluded. Like the preprepared salads that are a viable option if you dont want to buy bucketloads of fresh stuff that will go off before it all gets eaten etc.

So what you're saying is that Labour is DISCRIMINATING against single people or couples with no children, by only going after GST-exempt status for food that typically will go off before a single person can use it all?

Cheers - N

ps. No, I'm not seriously suggestng that's their intent - but I've seen more tenuous arguments made in politics :-)

Although single people or couples with no children are possibly not likely to be labour voters, unless they are students, or low income people. I am a bit surprised that national hasn't gone for a policy to remove interest free student loans, as I am sure that would be a big saving, and I think people realise that we can't afford to have that sort of policy anymore. Especially if they are thinking of extending the retirement age, which people are coming around to..

Regs

4066 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 206

Trusted

Snowflake

#542298 7-Nov-2011 23:11

talisker: Actually I don't think complexity is a big issue. Because NZ has a uniform GST rate across everything, it's seen as a big deal to have some products with no GST. The UK has a pretty complex system with VAT (e.g. none on children's clothes, books etc) and it's not an issue at all.

if all the systems here were designed to work like th UK ones, then it would be no problem at all. Issue is, many systems (and websites) can only do GST at a global level and would require rewrites/replacement to 'fix' the issue.

Sales Engineer
Snowflake
www.snowflake.com

about.me/nzregs
Twitter: @nzregs

jbard

1377 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 17

#542335 8-Nov-2011 06:14

Regs:
talisker: Actually I don't think complexity is a big issue. Because NZ has a uniform GST rate across everything, it's seen as a big deal to have some products with no GST. The UK has a pretty complex system with VAT (e.g. none on children's clothes, books etc) and it's not an issue at all.

if all the systems here were designed to work like th UK ones, then it would be no problem at all. Issue is, many systems (and websites) can only do GST at a global level and would require rewrites/replacement to 'fix' the issue.

Not many systems are built like this and any that are shouldn't be in use anymore. Their are items now that most retailers sell (such as international postage) that requires no GST being paid.

Any system that calculates tax at a global level isn't worth $1.

Travelling in Europe most countries over here have many different tax levels, seems to work well and people don't have any problems.

SaltyNZ

8865 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 9545

Trusted

2degrees

Lifetime subscriber

#542338 8-Nov-2011 06:55

richms: Dr Pepper

O_o

iPad Pro 11" + iPhone 15 Pro Max + 2degrees 4tw!

These comments are my own and do not represent the opinions of 2degrees.

johnr

19282 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2526
Inactive user

#542341 8-Nov-2011 07:25

Interest free student loans is BS teaching them nothing!! I paid back my student loan with interest.

Lenovo

Shop now for Lenovo laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

jfanning

438 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 82

#542342 8-Nov-2011 07:53

Talkiet:
Zeon: But seriously, what idiot buys fruit and veges from the supermarket anyway. Fresh grocer or side of the road stalls often have great deals that I guarantee are more than 15% cheaper than the supermarket.

The idiot that only wants to go shopping once, the idiot that is prepared to pay a convenience fee for getting everything in one place? The idiot that appreciates some supermarkets CAN do a better job of packaging fresh fruit and veges...

Or, put another way... Lots of people.

Cheers - N

Maybe the idiot that doesn't want to pay tonnes for petrol to drive to these stalls and purchase fruit/veges that are not much cheaper than the supermarket

richms

29099 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10210

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#542373 8-Nov-2011 09:12

Dunno about the stalls, but just fruit world or fresh n save are 30-40% off when I was doing vege shops vs the supermarket.

Richard rich.ms

bazzer

3438 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 267

Trusted

#542388 8-Nov-2011 09:42

mattwnz: One policy I think people have missed, is that I saw on Q&A that labour plan to borrow, to then invest that money in the overseas stock exchange to pay for our super. Who borrows money againest their house, to then invest in the stock exchange? I think it is a abit of a gamble in todays markets. I think that is a more important debate that this GST on food / vote grabber.

Plenty of people. Mortgage rates are under 6% at the moment, the question you should ask is who wouldn't borrow against their house to invest in the stock exchange? Haven't you heard of margin lending?

jonherries

1434 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 316

Trusted

Subscriber

#542389 8-Nov-2011 09:43

While I agree that this is probably entirely unworkable (although from an economic perspective their could be an argument for creating work in the current economy), it is worthwhile considering the principle that underpins the policy which is:

We know that poor people don't eat good food, end up obese and then get health problems, which then cost a lot of money to manage (generally can't fix them) for the rest of their life.

How to fix this?

Dunno, no one in the world has done so.

Although if you look at tobacco/alcohol regulation there are some pointers that work including:

excise tax (easy to apply to a defined category of goods)
advertising (maybe we should ban prepared food advertising?)
package modification (good luck, we can't even get country of origin labelling made mandatory)

I suppose what I would challenge you all to come up with is an answer to the problem above, and suggest it to the polititians. Generally they only spout what they hear and think is a good idea.

Jon

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7