Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan handed down his sixth federal budget last night and unlike most pre-election budgets, this one lacked splashy spending sprees and tax cut incentives.
It’s early days in the analysis of the 2013 federal budget, but on the surface it appears small business’ wish list was largely ignored.
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), in their post-Budget media release, outlined the following negatives for small business:
- No company tax relief;
- Higher personal income tax (Medicare levy);
- No capital gains tax relief;
- No cost offset to fund the 1st July hike in the superannuation levy;
- No restoration of incentives for hiring new apprentices;
- No reduction in tax compliance and red-tape.
The NSW Business Chamber also expressed concern that the proposed changes to the timing of PAYG tax instalments, which force large companies to remit PAYG tax monthly instead of quarterly, will result in delayed payments to small business suppliers, hence affecting cash flow in the SME sector. Managing cash flow has been identified as a major issue affecting Australian Businesswomen’s Network members, so we will monitor developments carefully. However, there was some exciting news on the innovation front, in particular the announcement of $350m for Venture Australia, which will be tasked with stimulating entrepreneurial activity among new small firms. On the face of it, this could present some fantastic opportunities for capital investment into many ABN members’ businesses and create a stronger start-up culture in Australia. The government has also singled out the establishment of industry innovation precincts in order to help manufacturers, allocating $238 million for development.
But perhaps what small business was most hoping for was a federal budget that would improve consumer confidence and the consensus appears to be that it did not deliver.
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