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调查：加拿大提高海外网购征税起点 利大于弊
作者 梁彦 | china@rcinet.ca星期五 19 十二月, 2014 ,
图片来源: PC / Justin Tang
又到了年末，通过网购，从国外，尤其是从美国，购买货品的数量大幅增加。加拿大会议局的一项调查显示，加拿大应该提高跨国网购征收关税的最低起征点，这样做对政府和民众都有好处。
加拿大会议局在星期四发布的一份报告称，加拿大政府应该将海外网购征税点提高十倍，从现在的20加元起征，提高到200加元。报告称，如果将起征点设在200加元，政府每年或许会损失大约1亿9千3百万到2亿3千7百万的税收。
但是，报告估计，因为征税点低而带来的消耗，要大于政府的收益。这包括延长了货品的转运周期，政府部门要调派更多人手来处理需要征税的商品，以及增加了商品的成本等。如果从这个角度看，政府并没有从中节省开支，但却造成了消费者支出上升，加拿大商品比美国昂贵等问题。
会议局的建议是，提高海外网购的征税点，将会给政府和个人带来更多好处，利大于弊。他们还举例说，在美国，海外网购征税的起征点为500美元，现在有人建议应该提高到800美元；而在澳洲，这个数字是1000澳元。相比之下，加拿大海外网购的征税起点实在太低了。
当然，对这一建议唯一提出反对意见的是零售商，他们认为，加拿大因为市场以及税收等原因，物价已经比美国高了，如果网购价格比去商店购物还要便宜的话，会严重影响他们的生意。
Price gap help: Tax cuts for cross-border orders could pay off
Economic benefits to cutting taxes on cross-border shipments outweigh costs, says report
By Laura Payton, CBC News Posted: Dec 18, 2014 5:00 PM ET Last Updated: Dec 19, 2014 8:29 AM ET
Shoppers wait for a store to open at an Ottawa Mall. Sometimes it seems easier, and cheaper, to order online from outside Canada. A report suggests the economic benefit of cutting taxes on those orders is far greater than the cost to the government. (Justin Tang/Canadian Press)
Canadians and their federal government would save money by raising tenfold the amount consumers can spend on cross-border purchases before having to pay taxes and tariffs, a new report says.
The report by the Conference Board of Canada looked at the de minimis threshold, the level at which Canadians have to pay taxes and tariffs on orders shipped from outside Canada. Right now, those fees are charged on any order worth $20 or more.
Raising that limit to allow shoppers to order up to $200 worth of goods would cost the federal government somewhere between $193 million and $237 million in lost tax revenue, the Conference Board found.
That's a small price to pay for the $5-billion benefit to the Canadian economy estimated in a separate study that researchers used for comparison.
A 2013 Senate report much lauded by the Conservative government recommends considering raising the minimum threshold to narrow the price gap between Canadian and American prices.
Now, the Conference Board has estimated the cost to the federal government, and compared it to the $5-billion benefit to the economy estimated by the World Customs Journal in a study published in 2012. The benefits include shorter merchandise transit time and reduced government administration costs and business compliance costs.
Those savings seem to vastly outweigh the $193 million to $237 million in lost tax revenue.
Unfair to retailers
Canada has one of the lowest minimum thresholds in the world. Americans can have $200 US shipped to them before they pay tariffs and taxes, which the government is considering raising to $800 US. Australians can spend up to $1,000 in their currency before tariffs and taxes kick in.
Canadians can also buy up to $200 in goods duty-free if they spend 24 hours or more outside the country, and up to $800 if they spend 48 hours or more outside Canada.
The numbers are striking, but the report comes with several important caveats:
It's also unfair, Canadian retailers argue, to let consumers buy goods shipped from other countries without charging them the taxes they'd have to pay if they shopped at a store in Canada.
The tariffs and taxes applied as a package crosses the border are simply the same costs retailers bundle into the price consumers pay in stores, the vice-president of the Retail Council of Canada said in an interview with CBC News.
Karl Littler says the idea of raising the cap is alarming.
"It's a significant fairness problem because self-evidently a Canadian merchant can't then possibly compete," he told CBC News.
Is benefit greater than loss?
As for the much higher $1,000 limit in Australia, Littler argued the market is very different in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
"There is much more limited opportunity to do regular cross-border shopping in order to obtain goods that aren't readily available in Australia.… Australia is a relatively small online market and you're not going to get what you need by taking the ferry to Port Moresby in Papua, New Guinea," he said.
Vijay Gill, director of policy research at the Conference Board of Canada, said it's important to consider whether the losses to stakeholders like retailers would be larger than the benefits of increasing the minimum threshold overall.
"Some people are going to benefit, some people are going to lose, like any policy change," Gill said.
"What I would want to know is [with] the losers, how much are they losing relative to the overall benefits?… And is there some way to take some of those benefits to compensate some of those losers?"
Gill also pointed out the government wouldn't necessarily save on administration if it redeploys anyone whose job is attached to administering the taxes and tariffs on cross-border orders. That labour could be redeployed to other jobs — possibly making the government more efficient, but not necessarily saving it any money.
Gill said the methodology used in the study that calculated the $5 billion in benefits is correct, but that the Conference Board didn't re-do the research.
作者 梁彦 | china@rcinet.ca星期五 19 十二月, 2014 ,
图片来源: PC / Justin Tang
又到了年末，通过网购，从国外，尤其是从美国，购买货品的数量大幅增加。加拿大会议局的一项调查显示，加拿大应该提高跨国网购征收关税的最低起征点，这样做对政府和民众都有好处。
加拿大会议局在星期四发布的一份报告称，加拿大政府应该将海外网购征税点提高十倍，从现在的20加元起征，提高到200加元。报告称，如果将起征点设在200加元，政府每年或许会损失大约1亿9千3百万到2亿3千7百万的税收。
但是，报告估计，因为征税点低而带来的消耗，要大于政府的收益。这包括延长了货品的转运周期，政府部门要调派更多人手来处理需要征税的商品，以及增加了商品的成本等。如果从这个角度看，政府并没有从中节省开支，但却造成了消费者支出上升，加拿大商品比美国昂贵等问题。
会议局的建议是，提高海外网购的征税点，将会给政府和个人带来更多好处，利大于弊。他们还举例说，在美国，海外网购征税的起征点为500美元，现在有人建议应该提高到800美元；而在澳洲，这个数字是1000澳元。相比之下，加拿大海外网购的征税起点实在太低了。
当然，对这一建议唯一提出反对意见的是零售商，他们认为，加拿大因为市场以及税收等原因，物价已经比美国高了，如果网购价格比去商店购物还要便宜的话，会严重影响他们的生意。
Price gap help: Tax cuts for cross-border orders could pay off
Economic benefits to cutting taxes on cross-border shipments outweigh costs, says report
By Laura Payton, CBC News Posted: Dec 18, 2014 5:00 PM ET Last Updated: Dec 19, 2014 8:29 AM ET
Shoppers wait for a store to open at an Ottawa Mall. Sometimes it seems easier, and cheaper, to order online from outside Canada. A report suggests the economic benefit of cutting taxes on those orders is far greater than the cost to the government. (Justin Tang/Canadian Press)
Canadians and their federal government would save money by raising tenfold the amount consumers can spend on cross-border purchases before having to pay taxes and tariffs, a new report says.
The report by the Conference Board of Canada looked at the de minimis threshold, the level at which Canadians have to pay taxes and tariffs on orders shipped from outside Canada. Right now, those fees are charged on any order worth $20 or more.
Raising that limit to allow shoppers to order up to $200 worth of goods would cost the federal government somewhere between $193 million and $237 million in lost tax revenue, the Conference Board found.
That's a small price to pay for the $5-billion benefit to the Canadian economy estimated in a separate study that researchers used for comparison.
A 2013 Senate report much lauded by the Conservative government recommends considering raising the minimum threshold to narrow the price gap between Canadian and American prices.
Now, the Conference Board has estimated the cost to the federal government, and compared it to the $5-billion benefit to the economy estimated by the World Customs Journal in a study published in 2012. The benefits include shorter merchandise transit time and reduced government administration costs and business compliance costs.
Those savings seem to vastly outweigh the $193 million to $237 million in lost tax revenue.
Unfair to retailers
Canada has one of the lowest minimum thresholds in the world. Americans can have $200 US shipped to them before they pay tariffs and taxes, which the government is considering raising to $800 US. Australians can spend up to $1,000 in their currency before tariffs and taxes kick in.
Canadians can also buy up to $200 in goods duty-free if they spend 24 hours or more outside the country, and up to $800 if they spend 48 hours or more outside Canada.
The numbers are striking, but the report comes with several important caveats:
- The federal government refused to provide data for the initial study, so the $5-billion benefit is an estimate.
- Ottawa also refused to provide data to the Conference Board researchers, so the cost to the government is an estimate.
- The report doesn't calculate lost revenue for the provinces.
It's also unfair, Canadian retailers argue, to let consumers buy goods shipped from other countries without charging them the taxes they'd have to pay if they shopped at a store in Canada.
The tariffs and taxes applied as a package crosses the border are simply the same costs retailers bundle into the price consumers pay in stores, the vice-president of the Retail Council of Canada said in an interview with CBC News.
Karl Littler says the idea of raising the cap is alarming.
"It's a significant fairness problem because self-evidently a Canadian merchant can't then possibly compete," he told CBC News.
Is benefit greater than loss?
As for the much higher $1,000 limit in Australia, Littler argued the market is very different in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
"There is much more limited opportunity to do regular cross-border shopping in order to obtain goods that aren't readily available in Australia.… Australia is a relatively small online market and you're not going to get what you need by taking the ferry to Port Moresby in Papua, New Guinea," he said.
Vijay Gill, director of policy research at the Conference Board of Canada, said it's important to consider whether the losses to stakeholders like retailers would be larger than the benefits of increasing the minimum threshold overall.
"Some people are going to benefit, some people are going to lose, like any policy change," Gill said.
"What I would want to know is [with] the losers, how much are they losing relative to the overall benefits?… And is there some way to take some of those benefits to compensate some of those losers?"
Gill also pointed out the government wouldn't necessarily save on administration if it redeploys anyone whose job is attached to administering the taxes and tariffs on cross-border orders. That labour could be redeployed to other jobs — possibly making the government more efficient, but not necessarily saving it any money.
Gill said the methodology used in the study that calculated the $5 billion in benefits is correct, but that the Conference Board didn't re-do the research.
