Small business to get new tax deductions
TRADIES and other small business operators will be given new tax deductions even if they miss out on a 1.5 per cent cut for small companies as part of a multibillion-dollar jobs package in tonight’s Budget.
And old and young jobseekers will benefit from increased subsidies to employers who hire them, in moves designed to tackle soaring unemployment in the two age groups.
But a suite of tax changes will hit consumers through higher GST, with other costs likely to be passed on by large IT and mining companies that will be chased for taxes they have escaped paying.
Australians will be forced to cough up an extra $350 million in GST over the next four years on digital downloads from overseas on sites including Netflix and Spotify.
Thirty multinational companies will be pursued for billions of dollars in taxes, in a crackdown on firms shifting profits off shore.
Treasurer Joe Hockey insisted there would be no new taxes in his second Budget, describing the tax changes as “integrity measures” designed to make the system fairer.
Mr Hockey said the GST changes would bring the tax up to date with the surge in digital downloads.
“It is plainly unfair that a supplier of digital products into Australia is not charging the GST,’’ Mr Hockey said.
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“When the GST legislation was originally drafted, it did not anticipate the massive growth in the supply of digital goods ... from overseas.”
Consumers could have just months to buy digital goods and services online before prices rise by 10 per cent once the GST is levied.
Source : The Courier Mail Steven Scott & Simon Benson May 12th 2015
