07-02-2023, 04:36 PM
(07-02-2023, 04:15 PM)Olive Wrote: Yes, it's the definitions that are a big problem. I hadn't thought about the packaging, but for people who eat a lot of processed foods the packaging is obviously a significant part of the cost.Australia created a real dog's breakfast with their GST system that resulted in examples like customers buying fresh fish (which was GST free) for the fish shop to cook for them. Also fresh chickens were GST free wheras (e.g. rotisserie) cooked ones has GST on them which is a disincentive to home cooking.
As soon as a government tries to define what is food and what isn't, a whole new area of bureaucracy and ten years' worth of arguments open up. I know what I regard as food but my definition would exclude a whole lot of things like soft drinks, sweets and ultra-processed food, and it would be a foolhardy government that drew that line.
NZ's GST system has been praised for its simplicity in the past and IMO we are better to leave well alone.