Kellie Sloane
Leader of the Opposition
NSW Liberal Leader
Gurmesh Singh
NSW Nationals Leader
Shadow Minister for Small Business
James Griffin
Member for Manly
Business owners and industry bodies are backing in the Liberals and Nationals proposed payroll tax reform as Leader of the Opposition Kellie Sloane begins a series of visits to businesses across Sydney.
During a visit to a steel fabricator in Brookvale on Friday, Edcon Steel Managing Director Hugh Edmunds told Ms Sloane of the pressure payroll tax places on the small business and the impact that has on decisions to hire and replace staff.
“We’re very reluctant to take on anybody that we don’t need, and as people leave there’s a lot of question marks as to whether we replace them or not,” Mr Edmunds said.
Under the changes announced on Thursday, a Sloane Liberal and Nationals Government will create the most competitive payroll tax regime in Australia by:
- Raising the payroll tax threshold from $1.2 million to $1.5 million.
- Reducing the payroll tax rate from 5.45 per cent to 4.75 per cent for businesses with a total Australian payroll below $10 million.
- Introducing CPI indexation to payroll tax thresholds to eliminate bracket creep.
These reforms will remove around 4,000 businesses from the payroll tax system altogether and ensure a further 25,000 businesses receive the lowest payroll tax rate of any Australian state.
For many businesses, this will mean annual savings of up to $75,850.
Industry groups including Business NSW, the Pharmacy Guild, the Housing Industry Association, Australian Industry Group and Motor Traders’ Association of Australia have applauded the proposed reform.
Leader of the Opposition Kellie Sloane said businesses across the state are doing it tough.
“Record numbers of businesses are closing their doors in our state, business confidence is at a record low and at times like this, they need a government that’s going to back them, not tax them,” Ms Sloane said.
“We will back businesses, not raise taxes that prevent them from employing people. Payroll tax is a tax on jobs. It’s a tax on growth.”
Leader of the NSW Nationals and Shadow Minister for Small Business Gurmesh Singh said we should be doing everything we can to help businesses succeed.
“Whether you’re in Brookvale or Broken Hill or anywhere in between, we want to ensure businesses like this can continue to grow, provide jobs and provide opportunity for working Australians,” Mr Singh said.
“The Minns Labor Government has offered no vision for how they’re going to pull the state back from being the worst-performing economy in the country back to being number one again like it was under the Liberals and Nationals only three years ago.”
Member for Manly James Griffin said local businesses were right behind the reform to payroll tax.
“This is a jobs protection policy for the Manly electorate and for our state. We want to back businesses like this one who contribute so much to our community,” Mr Griffin said.
