Retailers annoyed over GST move

Press, 9 December 1985, Page 1

Retailers annoyed over GST move

PA Wellington The Retailers Federation says it is horrified that the Government intends to make it compulsory for retailers to include goods and service tax on retail price tags. The president, Mr John Nelson, said he believed the federation had reached an agreement with the Government that allowed retailers to choose their own method of pricing. “The federation noted that the Government had agreed with the viewpoint of the Brash Committee set up to look at the issue, and understood the Government's intention was to leave the method of pricing to the marketplace,” he said.

Mr Nelson said the federation had not had an easy task persuading the retail industry to accept and support the introduction of GST, and had assured retailers that the Government did not plan to legislate for tax-inclusive pricing. The Government’s decision would present problems for retailers who would have to re-label all stock to incorporate the tax. Supermarkets, hardware stores and large shops stocking low-priced items Would face serious difficulties and extra costs, he said. The leader of the New Zealand Party, Mr John Galvin, said the Government’s plans to make traders show prices with GST included in the total

were a denial of consumer rights.

“It is a fundamental principle of any form of taxation that it be visible,” he said.

“For the Government to insist that GST is included in the price is a denial of the consumers’ right to know just how much tax they are paying,” Mr Galvin said.

The Minister of Consumer Affairs, Mrs Shields, said the Government had decided that traders must display a GST-inclusive price from the tax’s introduction in October next year.

Consumers had to be able to easily ascertain the asking price of any goods they wished to buy, she said.