Surprise, Surprise! Tax Is Biggest Issue For Australian Business

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

12 September 2001

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) has conducted a pre-election survey eliciting 2300 responses from across the country's businesses, large and small, from every state. Entitled 'What Business Wants From Australia's Next Parliament,' the survey identified where the problems and pitfalls are for businesses and pinpoints where change is most needed.

According to the survey's findings, the largest problem is taxation. The respondents say that because tax laws and rules in Australia have undergone frequent and complex changes in a short period of time, it is the single most important issue of concern to the business sector.

But the ACCI is hardly surprised by this outcome. It states that given the immense number of changes that business has had to contend with over the past year in learning to deal with the GST and in coming to terms with the Business Activity Statement in all its different forms, it would not expect any other response.

Although the ACCI concedes that the majority of the tax reforms were necessary and will make the economy more productive in the long term, it urges the government to leave any further planned major tax initiatives well alone. 'The government should concentrate on improving, where it can, the efficiency and clarity of the tax measures that are now in place.'

However, one change in taxation has been called for - the lowering of business taxation. The ACCI argued: 'Lower tax rates will repay large dividends as faster growth will mean that higher tax revenues are ultimately returned to government. By lowering the rate ... and the burdens placed on business, the eventual result is a more productive economy and therefore higher levels of tax receipts.'

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