MYOB chief executive, Tim Reed
With just a few days to go to the Federal Budget, Australian small to medium business owners (SMEs) have called for a reduction in company tax rates.
The MYOB Business Monitor surveyed more than 1000 business owners and discovered 60 per cent of respondents believe a tax reduction will allow Australia’s business environment to stay competitive.
Other key findings revealed that 37 per cent of business owners agree that the tax system is fair versus unfair (32 per cent) and the majority (52 per cent) reported they deem taxation as the most important area of government regulation to be simplified, followed by health and safety which trailed at 12 per cent.
MYOB chief executive, Tim Reed, said the results reflect that the government could be doing a lot more to reduce the day-to-day burdens of managing current business tax regulations.
“We can’t ignore the benefits that reducing company tax rates would provide to the Australian small and medium business community, who make up the vast majority of businesses in Australia. Given the group’s prominence, there is a significant economic benefit for Australia if we enable SMEs to become more competitive via tax reform,” he said.
Additionally, the Business Monitor showed 44 per cent of business owners intended to take up the instant tax write off this financial year, with 30 per cent having already purchased an asset and 14 per cent intending to purchase an asset.
“The tax incentive was certainly a great step forward in assisting small and medium business owners, and we hope to see a similar emphasis on lifting the tax burden on Tuesday evening. We hope that the government listens to the united call for company tax reform, as business owners gear up for the next economic year ahead,” Reed said.
Budget 2016 will be released at 7.30pm on Tuesday, May 3.
