Retailers rue no GST on imports

Papillon Boutique owner Dale Cooley says local business owners had hoped for the introduction of a GST on imported goods in this week's Budget. Photo / Warren Buckland

The Government failed to announce a GST on imported goods in this year's Budget, but one Havelock North retailer says she won't give up.

Dale Cooley, owner of high-end New Zealand clothing store Papillon Boutique, said she would "keep trying" in her push for the GST, which she'd hoped the Government would add to goods bought off foreign websites.

Consumers currently pay no GST on imported goods under $400, which can make overseas retailers seem a cheaper buying option compared with local stores. "It would have been nice. It would have helped us to compete on an even playing field," Ms Cooley said.

The tax, tipped to be in the Budget earlier this year, had garnered a groundswell of support from New Zealand retailers, and been pinned with the hashtag "#efairnessnz".

"I've had a lot of feedback from other business owners who said they wanted it," she said.

"There were a lot of people who were hopeful."

However, Ms Cooley was resolute, saying it was not "the end of the world".

"Maybe next year - it has got a huge following. At some stage a Government is going to have to do it."

She hoped this year's Budget measures would raise consumers' disposable incomes.

Although the Government failed to keep its promise of a surplus this year, estimating that the current year would post a $684million deficit, it was forecast that by mid-2019 another 150,000 people would be in work and unemployment would drop to 4.5 per cent.

By mid-2019 the average wage was expected to rise by $7000 to $63,000 a year.

Ms Cooley said the projected increases in employment and wages, if realised, would translate into a healthier retail sector.

"That's always the hope - if [consumers] have more money they're going to shop more. If one sector does well, they pass it on to another."