Page 1560 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 14 May 2019
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Taxation—small business
MISS C BURCH: The latest Sensis Business Index survey found that 41 per cent of Canberra businesses think that the current government is working against them, confirming the feedback on commercial rates from businesses that we heard in the recent Assembly inquiry. If federal Labor wins the next election, they will introduce a family business tax which will tax small businesses at the same rate as multinational corporations. Treasurer, why are your government and your tax policies working against local Canberra businesses?
MR BARR: They are not. In fact what we have seen through having the highest payroll tax-free threshold and the abolition of taxes on all commercial insurance products is that small and medium enterprises operating in the ACT pay less tax to the ACT government than an equivalent business operating in Queanbeyan would to the New South Wales government. That is very clear. So we will continue to pursue tax reforms that prioritise small and medium enterprises over the top end of town.
MISS C BURCH: Treasurer, how can local Canberra businesses compete interstate or internationally when your government’s tax policies make it hard for them to survive in our territory?
MR BARR: As I pointed out, they pay less tax—small and medium enterprises in the ACT—than they would if they were operating in New South Wales or indeed in other jurisdictions in Australia. We have seen 3,000 additional businesses established here in the ACT in recent years. We have very high levels of confidence in the small business sector and should there be a change of government on the weekend Canberra will benefit from hundreds of millions of dollars of additional infrastructure expenditure and there will be more money in our economy if penalty rate cuts that have harshly been put in place by those opposite are overturned and people get their Sunday penalty rates back.
MADAM SPEAKER: Before I call for the supplementary, members, 14 minutes into question time and it has been a wall of interjections. Can you manage to control yourselves for just a little bit.
MR WALL: Treasurer, what advice can you give local Canberra businesses on what government tax concessions or assistance might be available if they are struggling with the tax burden that you have placed upon them?
MR BARR: The best advice is, of course, to contact the revenue office. The revenue office have a range of information available on their website around concessions, payment plans and the like for anyone who is experiencing difficulty meeting their obligations. I also particularly encourage those businesses to look at the suite of policies that are on offer for them at this Saturday’s election and support a change in our nation to support increased employment and a focus on investment in Canberra. If you are a small businesses in Canberra and you want more custom, then you would definitely be voting Labor this weekend.
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