With the onset of the GST I am sure many of you are wondering what effect it will have on the hobby. To this end I wrote a number of letters and made a couple of calls to find out what the likely outcome of it all is. At this stage most providers of wargaming stuff are making educated guesses as they are still coming to grips with how it will all work. In the case of books they will attract the GST despite Natasha Stott Despoya's protests. A pity young 'Tash didn't get more support for that one. It will be interesting to see if we have to pay for books which we import direct. If there are no additional fees then it might go hard on book suppliers like Napoleons and Tin Soldier as we just take to ordering from overseas. For figure suppliers you have to look at them in two categories. The importers and the manufacturers under license. Advice from Ray Compton of Essex Miniatures and Stuart Hold of Wargames Warehouse indicates that while the 22% wholesale tax comes off we will probably be paying 10% GST on things like freight, handling and delivery costs so the importers expect a price rise or at best maintain the status quo. For manufacturers (such as Eureka Miniatures, Elite Miniatures, Battalion Miniatures, AUSMADE), previously they may have been under the threshold for attracting wholesale sales tax. With the scrapping of that tax and the placing of a GST on many of the manufacturing aspects a 10% rise is likely. Nick Robson of Eureka Miniature stated that initially all figures will go up by 10% for the first year and will likely go up a couple cents thereafter. The reason for this is to round off figure prices. eg AB figures from Nick are currently 70c add 10% GST for 77c, as this is an odd figure to work with especially when a big order comes in a further 3c will be added to round up to a total of 80c. Of course the details of the GST are yet to be provided and digested by our figures suppliers and each company is different. We must also remember that these guys and girls are running a business and as much as they help us when they can they have to make a living from it. Besides a number of them do good deals and are good people into the bargain. I have found all of them to be friendly and helpful and if you feel your blood rising a little then I can do no more and recommend you look over the fence and take a peek at the Games Workshop prices. So put simply, I think we can expect a 10% rise on everything after 1 July 2000. Having said that, Nathan of Elite Miniatures Australia has said that he does not intend to increase his prices at this stage. So I recommend you start saving now and start buying before the GST comes in. I certainly will. Back to Table of Contents -- Kriegspieler #6 To Kriegspieler List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by Kriegspieler Publications. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com