Payroll tax concession Bill voted down by Labor
The NSW Labor Government has used its numbers in the Lower House to vote down a Bill on payroll tax concessions that would have made NSW more competitive with Queensland, Member for Ballina and Shadow Minister for North Coast Don Page said.
Mr Page said Labor had shown its lack of interest in business and employment on the North Coast by voting against the Pay-roll Tax Amendment (Supporting Jobs and Small Business) Bill that would have raised the pay-roll tax tax-free threshold from the current $600,000 to $850,000, making NSW equal with Queensland.
During a speech to Parliament, Mr Page urged the Labor Government to vote for the Bill.
However, Member for Tweed Neville Newell voted with the Government to maintain higher taxes for NSW employers.
“Queensland’s business-friendly payroll tax schedule is luring businesses out of NSW and out of the NSW economy,” Mr Page said.
“Business owners are opting to move their operations north of the border and into Queensland where the payroll tax tax-free threshold currently stands at $850,000, or $250,000 higher than this State’s threshold.
“This in turn entices NSW residents to travel north of the border to access these businesses, and northern NSW continues to lose investment and consumer dollars to Queensland.”
Mr Page said the NSW Coalition was committed to lifting the NSW pay-roll tax tax-free threshold to match Queensland.
“Under our policy 4500 businesses would have been exempt from paying payroll tax and more than 22,000 businesses would have received tax cuts of up to $15,000,” Mr Page said.
“Raising the payroll tax threshold to match Queensland would have delivered a $282 million boost to businesses in 2007-08, providing a significant incentive for businesses to remain in New South Wales and not consider moving, or be forced to move, north.
“This Labor Government is continually claiming NSW is open for business. Yet the current payroll tax regime is driving business out of NSW.
“If the Labor Government was serious about returning the NSW economy to the powerhouse it once was, it would have supported this Bill.”
