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Daniel R · 03-30-2010, 08:09 PM

Yes gentlemen, welcome to my world!

Australia heavily taxes what are deemed to be "luxury cars". As soon as the untaxed value for a new car is above about 50k USD it has a luxury tax added, which comes on before the GST (think 10% sales tax on any good or service) to mean we pay a huge premium with tax on tax. This tax does not apply to the second hand market, however it is inherently built into the price due to an arbitrage between new and second hand prices (I'm sure the economists on here follow me).

Just to put it into perspective, a brand new Boxster S goes for about 150K USD without options.

If I was in the US guys, I would be driving a used GT3. I paid 60k USD (including transfer fees of about 4,500) 2 years ago for a 2000 Boxster S. It was a bargain as the dealers were selling them for about 75k USD at the time. Now after GFC etc. it is worth about 40k USD, but still expensive by world standards.

If you find that shocking, here is one for you. In my city, with a population of about 1.4 million, the MEDIAN home price is roughly $480,000 USD! Good luck first homebuyers!

03-30-2010, 08:09 PM	#15
Daniel R Registered User Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Perth, Australia Posts: 165	High Prices Yes gentlemen, welcome to my world! Australia heavily taxes what are deemed to be "luxury cars". As soon as the untaxed value for a new car is above about 50k USD it has a luxury tax added, which comes on before the GST (think 10% sales tax on any good or service) to mean we pay a huge premium with tax on tax. This tax does not apply to the second hand market, however it is inherently built into the price due to an arbitrage between new and second hand prices (I'm sure the economists on here follow me). Just to put it into perspective, a brand new Boxster S goes for about 150K USD without options. If I was in the US guys, I would be driving a used GT3. I paid 60k USD (including transfer fees of about 4,500) 2 years ago for a 2000 Boxster S. It was a bargain as the dealers were selling them for about 75k USD at the time. Now after GFC etc. it is worth about 40k USD, but still expensive by world standards. If you find that shocking, here is one for you. In my city, with a population of about 1.4 million, the MEDIAN home price is roughly $480,000 USD! Good luck first homebuyers!