[HPFGU-OTChatter] Re: US Government oddness/British same

[Shaun Hately]

On 13 Jan 2004 at 14:08, Saitaina wrote:

> Shaun wrote:
> 
> <It's not just US government oddities - it's
> government oddities in
> general.>
> 
> True.  Though in the case of feminine hygiene
> products, shouldn't they be exempt as they
> COULD cause disease (which is what I assume
> is the case for condoms being exempt).
> Granted the risk is low but still.

Yes - but if you exempt things on the grounds that they sometimes 
have a preventative effect with regard to disease, you then wind up 
with the question of whether you should exempt vitamin pills... and 
having exempted those, should you exempt herbal remedies... and 
having exempted those, should you exempt herbal food supplements... 
and having exempted those, should you exempt tomato sauce...

This is the crux of the problem - personally if I was making the 
decisions, I would exempt feminine hygiene products - but a line 
has to be drawn somewhere, and you're always going to wind up with 
some anomalies, whatever you do.
 
> *shrugs*  Maybe I should get a job as a tax
> writer, could be fun just to watch people's
> heads spin around as they try to figure it
> all out.

Our tax laws have actually got considerably simpler under our new 
GST regime - they are easier to understand than they were before - 
but head spinning is still highly complex.

I worked Y2K remediation for the Australian Post Office - followed 
immediately (we had six months) by getting all their systems ready 
for GST - that job was on the same scale as Y2K - and you might be 
surprised at how many different items a typical post office sells - 
all of which had to be assessed as to whether they incurred GST or 
not - and if they did, if they always did - and should GST be 
applied before bulk discounting, or after...

YAHAHAHAHA!


Yours Without Wax, Dreadnought
Shaun Hately | www.alphalink.com.au/~drednort/thelab.html
(ISTJ)       | drednort at alphalink.com.au | ICQ: 6898200 
"You know the very powerful and the very stupid have one
thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the 
facts. They alter the facts to fit the views. Which can be 
uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that 
need altering." The Doctor - Doctor Who: The Face of Evil
Where am I: Frankston, Victoria, Australia