FOR too long Australians have been slugged by the ‘Australia Tax’ — a term used to describe the premium we’ve been paying on the same products or services just for living in Australia.

Be that on clothes, digital downloads, cosmetics or any other number of things, the idea that Australians could somehow pay the same as everyone else in the Western world was as elusive as that pot of happiness at the end of Judy Garland’s rainbow.

But things may be about to change.

This week, federal Treasurer Joe Hockey uttered some words sure to make any shopper happy.

He said: “Australian consumers pay much higher prices compared to US customers when purchasing IT hardware, software, music, games, sporting equipment and fashion. And some companies selling these products pay little tax in Australia, despite their products selling for much higher prices in Australia than elsewhere.”

Mr Hockey has told the Australian Tax Office to investigate these companies, and with renewed vigour. It’s all part of a wider push to crack down on multinational companies such as Apple, Google and other tech players, who pay very little tax in this jurisdiction despite banking big revenues.

So it’s possible that prices may come down if the issue gets caught up in a tax tussle.

Tech companies in particular have been roundly criticised for slugging Australians with higher prices, especially for non-physical products that aren’t subjected to higher rent and labour costs that comes with bricks-and-mortars retail in Australia.

For example, consumer advocacy group Choice has previously pointed out that it would be cheaper to fly to America and buy a piece of Adobe software and fly back it back than to buy it in Australia.

In the Australian Apple iTunes store, the highest priced tier of music singles are priced at $2.19 while the most expensive songs in the US iTunes store cost $US1.29. The Australian dollar was trading around the $US0.93 mark this week.

“There’s no excuse for tech giants charging Australians more for digital products,” Choice head of media Tom Godfrey said. “During the IT pricing inquiry, they suggested GST causes for slapping on an ‘Australia Tax’ but as they are paying so little tax, it’s clearly another baseless excuse for price gouging.

“Our latest research shows Australians still face significant digital price discrimination. Even after excluding the GST, we found Australians pay 33 per cent more than US consumers for the top 10 new release movies in Apple’s iTunes store and 26 per cent more for a selection of new releases and upcoming PlayStation 4 video games.

“It’s time to end digital discrimination and call the tech giants to account for ‘Australia Tax’.”

The other reason why we may soon see prices come down is purely due to increased competition. Overseas retail giants have already made it onto our shores with the likes of Zara, H&M, Uniqlo and Topshop setting up shop. Marks & Spencer, Forever 21 and Sephora are soon to follow.

MORE: AUSTRALIANS BEING SLUGGED EXTRA

And it may have traditional Australian retailers spooked. The spectre of Sephora has seen some cosmetic and beauty products pricing come down dramatically. Sephora has already secured space in Sydney and is set to open the store at the end of the year, and it’s pledged to bring its US prices to Australia.

Myer and David Jones, whose cosmetic departments are highly profitable, have reportedly been pressuring their suppliers to bring prices closer to global levels. Meanwhile, Mecca Cosmetica has just rolled out its third round of permanent reductions across its lines.

Case in point: British skincare brand Ren’s ‘Vita-Mineral’ moisturiser is now selling at Mecca for $38 from last month. A year ago, Mecca had reduced the price of the product to around $55 while three years ago, it was selling it for around the $80 mark. It is now less than half the price and cheaper than what Sephora is selling it for once you factor in currency and sales tax.

While the local prices of the likes of Zara and Topshop are still higher than you would find it in their stores in London or New York on a like-for-like basis, Australian labour costs and rent are often much higher than elsewhere in the world.

But that doesn’t mean the increased competition in the retail sector hasn’t affected what Australians are paying. Just yesterday, Foxtel (of which News Corp, the publisher of news.com.au, is a half-owner of) announced it would slash the prices of its subscription packages in the face of existing and future competition such as pirated content and streaming service Netflix.

Have you noticed any price reductions due to competition from overseas? Are you confident Australians will see fairer pricing? Leave your comments below or email the writer at wenlei.ma@news.com.au.