Damien Tudehope
Shadow Treasurer
Wendy Tuckerman
Shadow Minister for Small Business
As Sydney CBD businesses face an increased rate of insolvencies, the Opposition points to the failure of the recent State Budget to deliver any meaningful support for small businesses despite record levels of taxation – including for payroll tax and land tax that directly affect the bottom line for many struggling businesses.
“Total taxation over the four years of this Budget is a whopping $43 billion higher than the total taxation in the four years covered by the Coalition’s Pre-Election Budget Update. By 2027-28 Labor will be taxing the families and businesses of NSW over $55 billion – a massive 43% higher than the tax collected in the last year of the Liberal and National Government”, said Shadow Treasurer Damien Tudehope.
“Despite already set to receive $88 billion in property taxes – transfer duty and land tax – the greedy Minns Labor Government has abandoned the indexation of the land tax threshold to raise and additional $1.5 billion. This will mean many struggling small businesses will be hit with a rent rise that may tip them over the edge into insolvency,” Damien Tudehope said.
“The previous Coalition Government raised the payroll tax threshold from $750,000 in 2018 to $1.2 million in 2021. The Minns Government ignored a call from the business sector to raise it to $1.3 million and drop the rate to below 5%,” Damien Tudehope said.
“All this extra tax is going straight to settle billions of dollars of public sector wage rises on Labor’s union mates - $9 billion and counting with current demands from just four unions totalling a further $6 billion. This is why there was nothing to support struggling businesses in the Budget,” Damien Tudehope said.
“The Minns Government cancelled the successful Open for Lunch and Noel Sydney events, It cut the budget for Destination NSW. The recent Vivid was managed so poorly that small business stall holders lost money through their participation,” Wendy Tuckerman, Shadow Minister for Small Business said.
“The previous Coalition Government used a range of measures to support small businesses, including the popular dine and discover vouchers as we emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic. The Minns Government lacks both the commitment and the imagination to deliver for small businesses, including those Sydney CBD businesses currently doing it tough,” Wendy Tuckerman said.