Currently anyone who buys goods from overseas worth below $1000 does not have to pay the extra 10% in Goods and Services Tax.  Australian retailers have constantly complained about the loophole saying it puts them at a disadvantage with overseas competitors.

Assistant Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says the upcoming tax White Paper will take another look at the issue.

"It makes sense to have a serious look at this from a jobs perspective because the retailers are such big employers," he said.

In 2011, the Productivity Commission found the loophole was only a "minor part" of the competitive disadvantage faced by retailers but said it should be lowered "significantly" on principle.

But the Productivity Commission said that with no proper system in place to process incoming parcels the threshold should only be lowered when it was "cost effective" to do so.  It advised the then Labor government to establish a taskforce to set up a processing system.

Mr Frydenberg said on Friday compliance costs were coming down because of improvements in technology.

"If other comparable jurisdictions can deal with this issue why can't we?" he asked.

Russell Zimmerman from the Australian Retailers Association said he believed the loophole was "costing thousands of jobs" in Australian and expressed relief at Mr Frydenberg's comments.

"We look forward to seeing what positive effects the closing of this loophole could have on local retailers in 2015," Mr Zimmerman said.

"At this time of year, more than ever, we realise how important retail jobs are to the Australian economy. You'll only have to go near a shopping centre today – Boxing Day – to understand the importance of supporting employment in the retail industry," he said.

The Assistant Treasurer declined to say by how much the threshold could be lowered or how soon and said he would like to see "proper analysis" as to where an "effective threshold" might fall.

He urged Federal Labor to support the renewed push given the Shop Assistants Union's former boss Joe de Bruyn has previously backed imposing the GST on imports.

Most of the states are on board with imposing the GST on imports because they are granted its revenue.  But Western Australia has been accused of blocking change because it wants an overhaul of how the GST revenue is distributed between the states.

But the Liberal MP Craig Kelly said closing the GST loophole would not solve the retailers problems which he said were primarily due to zoning laws, high retail costs, higher wages and penalty rates and lastly the consumption tax.

He said zoning laws meant retail rents were far higher in Australia than compared the United States and that led to smaller shops being staffed by similar numbers of staff – making operating and labour costs more expensive.

He said changes to local government and state laws is one solution as well as re-examining the cost of wages in Australia.

"The last thing we want to do is cut people's wages but we also don't want a situation where people aren't being employed because of penalty rates," he said.

"If they become a deterrent to employers they're against everyone's interest,"

Prime Minister Tony Abbott promised before the election not to touch penalty rates and has to date been unmoved by pleas from his backbench to address the issue.

But Mr Kelly said political bravery would be required to tackle "challenging" and "difficult issues".

"They're decisions we have to make for the best long term interests of the country," he said.

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