PAYROLL TAX RELIEF TO TURBO CHARGE BUSINESSES

The extension of the Payroll Tax threshold to $1.2 million, as a cornerstone of tomorrow’s NSW Budget, is further relief for businesses when they need it most, according to the region’s peak business organisation, Business Illawarra.

We are pleased that the NSW Government has addressed the concern we highlighted in our pre-budget submission; namely that the federal government was stimulating and rewarding job creation while a handbrake was being applied by the state in the form of payroll tax.

As we have been regularly informing both the government and the opposition, payroll tax is a tax on jobs and serves as a disincentive for businesses to take on extra staff. 

Our advocacy over the long term has resulted in significant payroll tax concessions for local businesses, particularly since the 2018 state budget where the government agreed to lift the payroll tax threshold from $750,000 to $1 million per year.

To see this lifted to $1.2 million is another welcome step that will see more small businesses released from the burden of not only paying the tax, but on the $10,000 that it costs on average in administration.

Both the Premier and Treasurer have promised this Budget will focus on jobs, and it is good to see those words supported by decisive action.

Our state colleagues at Business NSW released an economic recovery blueprint, Back on Track, earlier this year where they demonstrated how payroll tax should not continue to be a deterrent to taking on additional staff during pandemic recovery.

NSW has long been the powerhouse of Australia’s economy, contributing around one third of our national GDP, so if our economy is firing on all cylinders, the economy will naturally benefit.

Despite the economic headwinds, there is cause for optimism about our recovery, and the jobs focused mindset from the NSW Government is a great confidence builder for business owners and their employees across the State.