Financial Review - Jul 3 2016 at 4:21 PM
Election 2016: Small business likely to
win either way
Small business could be one of the few winners from the cliffhanger election Peter Braig
by Ben Potter
Small business emerged as one of the few likely winners from a cliffhanger election in
which important economic policies hang on the outcome of thousands of postal and
early votes in a few key seats.
Incorporated companies with turnover of up to $2 million can count on a cut in the
company tax rate from 28.5 per cent to 27.5 per cent, which is part of the Turnbull
government's budget and is supported by Labor.
Council of Small Business of Australia chief executive Peter Strong said he was
confident firms with turnover from $2 million to $10 million would get the tax cut
eventually, even though Labor was hostile to this part of the budget.
The Greens, with one House of Representatives seat and a likely eight Senate
seats, back the tax cut up to $10 million turnover.
Nick Xenophon celebrates with Rebekha Sharkie, who is leading in Mayo, at his post election
party at Palace Cinema, ADELAIDE. 02 July 2016. Caption description on 2nd July 2016 in
Adelaide, Australia. Photo by James Elsby/Fairfax Media James Elsby
Mr Strong said Bob Katter, the Nick Xenophon Team (NXT) and Cathy McGowan
were sympathetic towards small business's case for a broader tax cut.
NXT candidate Rebekha Sharkie won the former South Australian Liberal stronghold of
Mayo from her former boss, Jamie Briggs. Senator Xenophon said he expects to be
joined by two colleagues in the Senate, making his party the fourth-most powerful
force in the parliament.
Mr Katter, a former National Party members, held his Queensland seat of Kennedy
and Ms McGowan defeated Liberal Sophie Mirabella a second time to cement her
grip on the central-northern Victorian seat of Indi.
Their votes should be enough to pass a tax cut for companies with up to $10 million
in revenue, which Mr Turnbull campaigned for throughout the campaign while
downplaying the unpopular part of the budget package that extends the cut to big
business and cut the rate to 25 per cent over nine years.
Senator Xenophon is scheduled to close the Council of Small Business of Australia's
2016 summit in Brisbane with a lunchtime address on Friday and Mr Strong said the
South Australian supported lifting the limit on small business tax breaks to $10
million.
That means access to immediate writeoffs of assets worth up to $20,000, a measure
he said was even more important to many small firms than a cut in the company tax
rate.
But tax cuts for larger companies are off the agenda for this parliament and possibly
beyond after the violent electoral rebuff to the coalition at the weekend.
Mr Strong said he was confident of support for changes to weekend penalty rates
from the crossbenchers, which are being reviewed by the Fair Work Commission.
He said small retailers had to pay higher penalty rates to employees for working on
Sunday than employees of large retailers for doing the same work, because of
special deals done by the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association.
Mr Strong said COSBOA members were angry about the policy and Labor "would
have won" the election if it had embraced pro-small business policy.