The Liberal Nationals are calling on the Andrews Labor Government to immediately implement temporary payroll tax relief to help Victorians get back to work and back in business.
With Victoria losing more jobs than any other state in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Liberal Nationals are proposing urgent action by the Victorian Government to save Victorian jobs.
With restrictions now easing, now is the time for the Andrews Labor Government take up the Liberal Nationals’ ideas to protect Victoria’s jobs and businesses.
The Liberal Nationals call would see the Andrews Labor Government waive payroll tax for all businesses on the first $10 million of annual payroll to 30 June 2021, helping kick start local economies.
It would mean thousands of Victorian small and medium-sized businesses pay zero payroll tax, enabling Victorians to get back to work sooner and the creation of new jobs without the disincentive of payroll tax.
This would deliver a payroll tax saving of up to $485,000 for businesses in 2020-21 – just the incentive a business needs to help get Victorians back to work.
For larger businesses, payroll tax would be payable on each dollar of payroll paid in excess of $10 million.
The Andrews Labor Government’s temporary assistance in raising the payroll tax threshold to $3 million ends on 30 June 2020.
After 30 June 2020, the only commitment that has been made by the Andrews Labor Government is to allow businesses to defer paying payroll tax during the first quarter of 2020-21 (Jul-Sep). Any business that chooses to take up this deferral option will still be liable to pay any amount deferred payroll back to government, in full, at a later date.
The fallout from COVID-19 restrictions has devastated our local economies, with thousands of small businesses forced to shut and hundreds of thousands of jobs forecast to be lost.
Rebuilding our local economies is paramount to get Victoria back to work and back in business. Businesses are the real drivers of our economy, not governments.
Comments attributable to the Leader of the Opposition, Michael O’Brien:
“Thousands of Victorian businesses are on life support because of the pandemic. If we want businesses to start hiring again they need a heart starter – my payroll tax relief plan will do just that.
“Payroll tax is a tax on jobs and is a disincentive for business to hire. Reducing this tax on all businesses during the recovery phase will allow businesses to survive and get more Victorians back to work.
“Only when small and medium businesses are back in business, creating more jobs for Victorians, will our state’s economy be headed in the right direction.
“While we’ve flattened the curve, Victoria’s economy has also been flattened. I’m putting forward positive ideas for the Andrews Labor Government to take up to get Victorians back to work.”
Comments attributable to Leader of The Nationals, Peter Walsh:
“Small and medium businesses are the backbone of our economy and only when government can incentivise them to create new jobs and free up money within their businesses can Victoria get back to work and back in business.
“Rebuilding local economies starts with Victorian small and medium size businesses knowing that the government has their back.
“While the Liberal Nationals have a strong plan to get Victoria back to work and back in business, Labor remains hamstrung by its union backers dictating when it should reopen what parts of our economy.”
