Saturday 4 February 2012

Information On Goods And Services Tax

By Sean White


If you are one of the many who are wondering what Goods and Services Tax stand for, then it is about time to learn. This is simply a replacement of the Value Added Tax (VAT), excise duty tax, service tax, manufacturer's sales tax, and other tax schemes. It seeks to simplify all types of tax into one structure. The implementation of this tax structure differs in every country but with the sole purpose of helping the nation's budget. GST is commonly imposed on the goods and services sold to consumers.

GST is not added on all the goods consumed by consumers. Some countries have specific products that are tax-exempted. Countries that are known to use GST as their tax scheme are: Australia, Singapore, New Zealand and Canada.

On January 1991, Prime Minister Mulroney introduced the tax Policy GST to the citizens of Canada. The Tax was introduced to replace the Manufacturer's sales tax. The tax is added to the common products and services that people buy except grocery items, medical services and rent of residential properties. The tourists are also exempted in paying the tax. If they purchased some goods they can file for a refund from the GST they paid for the product. At present, the GST rate in Canada is at 5%.

On April 1994, the government of Singapore introduced GST. In the past, Singapore has very high taxes for the people and the Economic Committee has seen this. To lift the burden from the citizens, GST was chosen by the government as a replacement tax policy so tax payments are lowered. GST is exempted on some goods and services needed by the people such as rent of residence and sales. Exported product also has zero rates in GST. 7% is the current rate Singaporean GST.

GST was first announced on July 2000 in Australia by the Government of Howard. It is used to replace numerous taxes in the government such as Stamp duty, banking tax and Federal wholesale sale tax. The Australian GST is also the Value added tax which is usually levied on many services and goods. The present GST rate in Australia is 10%.

GST was introduced on October 1986 by the government of New Zealand to its citizens. It is again the value added tax of New Zealand and it is added to the price of regular goods in the market. GST is not levied on financial services, property rents and donations. Goods exported out of New Zealand also have zero tax rates.

Some individuals do not go for the Goods and Services Tax because of the burden it adds to the everyday expenses of the people. GST levied on products increases the prices of the products making it hard for people that earns below the minimum wage. Despite the controversies behind the GST, it is still being used for many years because it has benefited the government.




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