Online Advertising Tax

Not too long ago, a plumber would advertise in local newspapers, and pay for a listing in the Yellow Pages. Back then tradies would question the worth of a Yellow Pages listing, because they couldn’t measure the results.

Today, plumbers pay up to $40 to receive a click on their ad in search engine results. That’s not a phone call or a form fill – that’s a click. $100+ for a phone call from a potential customer is not at all unusual.

• The $40 typically goes overseas
• You pay for that $40 click indirectly, to cover the advertising costs, in your fees to the tradies

The only beneficiary is the overseas search engine company.

We will advocate a 50% levy on all online advertising fees (revenue, not profit). $20 of the $40 click will be paid to the government.

This will not cause ads to cost more! Ads use an auction system, and businesses are typically already paying the most they can afford. Their costs will remain steady, but the dollars leaving Australia will halve.

A side-benefit is that websites that exist to profit from advertising revenue will become less common. The content of those are almost always of little genuine worth to anyone.