NSW Business Chamber Regional Manager, Joe Townsend said the budget recognised the need for fiscal responsibility.

“This is a Budget which provides some welcome relief for small business in the form of an increased payroll tax threshold and builds future capacity through record investment in infrastructure and skills,” Mr Townsend said.

“The previously revealed extension of the payroll tax threshold to $1 million over the next four years has been celebrated by businesses of all sizes.  This will save business $881 million over four years and should mean approximately 5,000 business will no longer face payroll tax. Already a number of businesses have commented they will be taking on more staff on account of not being slugged with payroll tax or associated administrative expense. 

“The NSW Business Chamber made an increase in the payroll tax threshold the central plank of advocacy efforts, and we are pleased the Government have listened to the needs of small business.”

Mrs Betts says it isn’t enough relief.

“Queensland has a threshold of $1.1 million,” said she said.

“Companies like Martins and Lindsay Bros have moved their head offices to Queensland, and Kerry Brown from Inverell Freighter has scaled down because of payroll tax – so imagine how much the Roads and Maritime Services is missing out on without their fleet registrations.

“Our company spends more than $750,000 per annum on registration. Imagine if that wasn’t paid to look after our roads and if we shifted our fleet registration to Queensland - and we could because we work there. We are a medium-sized business and growing, faced with the difficulty of payroll tax. Why stop employment?”

Mrs Betts said she didn’t think the State Government had given enough support to smaller regional towns.

“The NSW Government gave relief to the Newcastle area when BHP closed, our Premier gave relief to Blue Scope Steel in Wollongong just recently, but what have they done for Walcha since the sawmill closed ? ” she said. 

Mr Townsend said one of the growing challenges for businesses in NSW is finding skilled staff.

“Particularly in regional businesses the challenge is in the ability to attract and retain skilled staff, to do the jobs now and into the future,” he said.

“The Government is looking to close the gap on the skills shortage in Regional NSW through the provision of 100,000 free apprenticeships, and a mandate that new Government infrastructure projects must have a workforce of at least 20% apprentices.” 

Mrs Betts said she didn’t see this as something to celebrate.

“The NSW Federal Government give us funds for new employees to be trainees and we pass this onto a training company to train the employees,” she said.

“It is so ineffective and not relevant to what we do, and the employee is payroll tax exempt.  I have written continually to both Federal and State politicians stating we have to do training that is compliant to the RMS, and customers induction etcetera. Why can’t the Federal Government give the training fee to towards NSW Payroll Tax?

“I had a breakfast meeting with Gladys Berejiklian year’s ago when she was treasurer, and she stated NSW was going well because of stamp duty and payroll tax, and I asked her about jobs and growth –  because payroll tax is stopping growth in the employment area.”

Mr Townsend said the Budget confirms $13.3 million in funding for the recently appointed NSW Productivity Commission.

“The NSW productivity Commission is tasked with identifying ways to improve the economic capacity of NSW including reducing compliance costs for NSW business. As a first task, the NSW Productivity Commission will develop a portal to assist NSW Business identify opportunity to reduce red tape, and develop a new regulatory policy framework,” said Joe Townsend.

“With an election in NSW now just nine months away, the Government has made its pitch through this Budget on the back of solid economic management being able to provide opportunities to support business growth, investment and job creation, however it’s vital that regional NSW is not left behind, and we expect to see activity on the ground in the coming months.”