E-commerce is being taxed for roughly the same reason as the sales tax exemption on solar panel imports has been removed: protectionism. While the 2025-2026 Federal Budget saw a number of revolutionary changes in customs duties, all with the intention of removing protectionist barriers, the new taxes on e-commerce were justified as being meant to protect physical retailers. True, physical retailers have to put up a larger investment than e-retailers, as they have to pay rent for locations convenient for purchasers, pay for shelves and cupboards, as opposed to e-retailers, who can operate out of a garage or converted warehouse, and need have no display cases, only efficient warehousing. Similarly, the removal of the sales tax exemption has been justified on the ground that those who manufacture it would have to pay the tax, and thus manufacturers (even the Minister had to give an embarrassed explanation that they were few) were being given a level playing field.
In both instances, the government is favouring older technology over newer. This surrender to old-fashioned elements who find themselves being edged closer to extinction is symptomatic, almost as if the government is embracing the past. That the Budget is no longer prepared on paper with a quill pen is perhaps a relief, for that is the moral equivalent of what has been done to the e-retail and the solarization sectors. It was also perhaps too much for the government to resist the temptation to tax a new business when it takes birth. That it throws roadblocks in the way that society needs to move is another benefit for those who want to see a return to the simpler times of donkey carts and open drains in the middle of streets.
There are a number of developments, each of which has the potential to transform society. Indeed, that process has often started. The mobile phone, which has placed the power of computers originally as big as a building in the palm of one’s hand, and has placed radios, watches, telephones, cameras, and so much more, has not been fully integrated into our lives. Artificial intelligence has set off a revolution on its own. Climate change is upon us, and solar power is freeing the ordinary consumer from the tyranny of the big power conglomerates. There are developments in fusion power that will upend everything. Yet for every dying technology, for every business falling behind the times, the government seems determined to help retard progress.
