Payroll Tax Should be Scrapped, Not Increased

12 October 2012 – “It’s a penalty for employing people”, “it’s a scourge” these were the reactions I got on the topic of payroll tax when I spoke to a group of SME owners and founders this week at a meeting of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization.

There’s not much love lost in the business community for payroll tax, so that’s why I was surprised to hear Australia’s top Treasury official call on state governments to plug budget deficits by increasing payroll tax.

Treasury secretary Martin Parkinson said state and federal government revenue bases had been “dramatically hollowed” and there was too much political opposition to raise the GST. He suggested hiking payroll tax as an alternative.

At a time when job losses and business collapses continue to attract attention in Australia it is worrying that Treasury is even considering increasing what is already an insidious tax on jobs.

Read Article at [smartcompany].