One example I like to use is the price of dishwasher detergent. Take in account that having dishwashers is a luxury in South America.

A brand-name ~5 lb dishwasher detergent powder package retails for $ 6.50 ($ 7.10 if we consider sales tax) in the US. Last month I've been in Argentina and saw that a brand-name 5 lb package which is imported(!) retails for something like $ 7.50 w/ tax. A 6% premium considering that it could be considered a luxury product, there's also higher sales tax, but it is essentially the same price. It's a commodity after all, it's just detergent powder.

The same detergent powder that is sold in Argentina, manufactured in Brazil no less, retails for $ 32 here.

Why? There are no feasible alternatives, there is no feasible competition, and people will pay. The local companies here try to excuse themselves blaming high taxes, but this is not the full picture.

If I wanted to setup a company to benefit myself from the arbitrage, I'd be out of money just to hire a tax lawyer to understand the tax implications of importing and reselling detergent powder. What's the effective retail tax rate for detergent powder? Who knows?

Now, let's assume for our exercise the tax rate is insane and detergent powder has a 100% tax rate, I could be buying them at retail prices, selling them at half of what it is currently being sold and still make a profit.

If this detergent powder price point is just pure profit on the manufacturer/retailer part, I'd rather have low stock to not be burned when they decrease their prices to cut me, but to benefit from the true import duties that are available for businesses (yes, that 60% import duty everybody hears about is only for regular people) I'd have to spend a lot of money to structure a full sized import/export business and order a ton of detergent to dilute my fixed costs. Now the risk of loss is greater, and my small arbitrage business idea doesn't look so good.

The established companies won't have any competition as it is crazy as you see above, so they set the price point they want.

It is exactly the same story with the automotive industry, fashion and even Apple. They famously sell the most expensive iPhones in the world, but I actually got mine 2 weeks after launch from an official reseller that just charged a fair price (like 20% over US retail) on a sale.

Sorry for the long rant, the taxes are high, specially when you consider the perceived return on the tax paid, but it's not the full story.