Welcome to the May issue of xpress.
The Federal Government’s response to the recent Henry Tax Review was underwhelming and appeared to be an opportunity lost.
The announcements were similar to Budget initiatives, rather than comprehensive taxation reform and the Government has ignored a large number of the recommendations that Ken Henry made.
It is disappointing that despite recommendations, there was no action regarding payroll tax or reducing red tape, particularly for State-Commonwealth funding arrangements.
The increase in superannuation contributions may assist in addressing ageing population challenges, but this will raise business costs and add pressure to the employer community.
There is some relief for small business with the corporate tax rate decreasing and improved depreciation treatment, however this should only be the beginning of comprehensive tax reform.
Business SA remains committed to ensuring South Australia has a workers compensation scheme that provides the incentive and support to get injured workers rehabilitated and back on the job and is affordable to the business community.
Recent changes have been positive for the scheme and just last month WorkCover announced the first decrease in the average levy rate since 2002.
This provided great news for business and was a positive result following the ongoing efforts of Business SA. More details are also available in this issue of xpress.
Interest rates continue to rise and business and consumer confidence will take another hit following the latest rate rise in May.
We’ve seen six out of a possible seven interest rate rises since October and this is having a major impact on the business community’s ability to emerge from the downturn.
Recent retail trade figures indicate that turnover increased just 0.5 per cent in March.
Considering the festivals and other events held throughout the State in March, these figures could be considered as weak and do not justify the continued actions by the Reserve Bank.
The 2010 Business SA Export Awards will be launched early next month and I encourage all local exporters to take advantage of the opportunity to increase their company’s profile and showcase their organisation’s exporting success. More details will be provided in the June xpress.
Business SA’s Employers Mutual Changes and Challenges Conference was held this month and was a great success, confirming the event as the State’s premier workplace safety, environment and injury management conference.
The latest Business SA networking event at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre was also popular with a large number of members enjoying the venue’s new refurbishments. A full wrap up of the event is available in this issue of xpress.
It’s another busy edition of xpress as we also have a look at the assistance being offered from Business SA and we catch up with a couple of Business SA members.
Until next month
Peter Vaughan
