MP's iPad 2 'tax' concerns shows little business nous

Federal Labor MP Ed Husic has asked Apple why its prices are higher in Australia, however he doesn't seem to realise Australian Government policies and the higher cost of doing business in Australia is the in the extreme obvious answer.

Let's not forget higher staff costs, higher petrol, oil, energy and transportation prices, higher food prices, higher prices for commodities, marketing costs, superannuation, technical support costs, legal and accounting, rent, warehousing and everything else that cost into the cost base for Apple Australia to exist in Australia. At the time multiply that by all the countries that Apple has offices and Apple Stores in.

Add all those costs to the cost of goods that it costs Apple to pay for the materials to have an iPad 2 or its other technologies manufactured.

There's as well the fact that the US prices that Apple quotes are without any applicable local taxes, which for most US Apple device buyers who buy in retail stores means a higher final price including tax will be paid at the checkout when buyers walk out of the store with that product.

The others if it wants

Every US state can have different sales taxes to the others if it wants, making final prices fluctuate moreover depending on specifically where it is you live in the US. Australia's prices are set by Apple, and all of the retailers sell many of Apple's products, including iPad 2 models, at prices cheaper than Apple itself.

in Australia, Big W sells the iPad 2 from between $11 and $51 less than the Apple Store. Four days afterwards a massive launch it's natural that initial stocks have run out, nevertheless more are clearly on the way.

If you go to the US Apple Online Store you can order an iPad 2 64GB with 3G for US $829. However before you can buy it, and afterwards naturally being show a page of accessories you might want to buy, you need to put in your zip code, which as we all know is the post code.

All up, your US $829 iPad 2 has turned into a US $915.83 piece of equipment! Granted, Australians are charged AUD $949 for that model, instead of last year's AUD $1049 for the iPad 1. That makes Apple's own price in Australia $33.17 more expensive than in 90210, however at the amazing Big W price of AUD $898, it's cheaper than the US - or for the time being, in California. Other states will be a bit cheaper, some likely more expensive.

Perhaps if both sides of politics would as a matter of fact work in a bipartisan manner to lower or remove taxes, they'd find that prices would be lower in Australia.There's as well the fact that Apple's prices are higher in Europe than the US, too, where the same situation of higher taxes and higher costs of doing business applies. Given that Mr Husic wrote to Apple Australia's MD to ask him about pricing, it would be interesting to see if the response was ever made public.  If there is a response, it might mention Australia's much higher cost of doing business prevents Apple from selling products below cost. When all is said and done, who gets rich selling $1 for 95c?Apple is not stupid. Like as not some of the world's politicians are a little too worried about saving the planet with spurious carbon dioxide taxes than they are in encouraging businesses with lower tax rates, which would at that time give businesses the leeway to offer the same kind of low, low prices in Australia as they do in the United States of America. I won't, but, be holding my breath - I'll probably be taxed for doing so.

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