The sitting government has consistently proven its penchant for a three word slogan and with the latest "jobs and growth" catchphrase placing a strong national focus upon lower levels of unemployment and greater economic prosperity, the 2016 budget looks to be good news for local business owners in Queanbeyan.
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Federal treasurer Scott Morrison delivered the budget on Tuesday night, May 3, outlining a ten year monetary plan for the nation to follow on it's way back to surplus. Business was one of the clear winners, with a reduced company tax rate of 27.5 per cent being implemented from July 1 for businesses with a turnover of less than $10 million per annum. This was raised from an original cap of $2 million. Unincorporated small businesses with a turnover of less than $5 million per year will also receive a tax discount of 8 per cent and an $840 million youth job seeker package is set to encourage businesses to hire young workers by allowing them to provide internships before committing to hire.
Queanbeyan Business Chamber president Rory Markham said the local community's regional nature had resulted in a heavy focus on business and as a result he welcomed many aspects of the business-heavy-budget proposal.
"With Queanbeyan being a regional town, it has obviously had the heavy focus on business - including start up businesses that benefit from a close proximity to Canberra - so the government's commitment to bring in reduced small company tax is an ideal stimulus as well as a positive sign that small businesses are going to be incentivised to keep working in Queanbeyan," Mr Markham said.
"We very much welcome that proposal and are otherwise supportive of a whole raft of measures around tax deductions and preferential tax treatments for small business because we think that's getting the mix right to do business in Queanbeyan."
While describing the budget as "small-business-friendly", Mr Markham conceded that there was still room for improvement, particularly in terms of the targeted economic development of the Queanbeyan.
"The Queanbeyan Business Chamber would like to see more targeted programs for regional development within the Queanbeyan area," he said.
"And perhaps government grants from the Commonwealth to basically develop a cooperative relationship with small business and we would invite the Commonwealth and the NSW government to really focus on developing those partnerships with our key businesses in the area."