Call for payroll relief to assist businesses

Immediate state government help for local businesses impacted by restrictions on their operations due to the coronavirus have been called for by the Opposition.

At the top of the list are relief on payroll tax and steps to reactivate the tourism sector.

Member for Narracan Gary Blackwood has called for the government to waive taxing the first $10 million businesses pay in wages each year to help get people back to work.

Opposition leader Michael O’Brien and deputy leader Peter Walsh joined to propose $200 million be allocated to a Regional Tourism Fun without which they claimed the sector would never recover due to the combined impact of the virus, bushfires and drought.

Mr Blackwood said the State government’s current temporary measure of raising the payroll tax threshold to $3 million should be boosted to $10 million and extended beyond the deadline of June 30 this year.

The only commitment for beyond June 30 was the defer payroll tax payments for the first quarter of next financial year and then have to pay in full, he said.

Mr Blackwood described payroll tax as a tax on jobs and a disincentive to business to employ people and needed to be reduced during the recovery phase to allow businesses to survive and get people back to work.

Mr O’Brien and Mr Walsh have put forward a three-point plan for $200 million for the regional tourism sector to return by June 2021 to the accommodation occupancy levels of June last year.

The focus would be on help tourism operators get back on their feet, promote destinations and upgrade tourism related infrastructure.

They said tens of thousands of regional Victorians rely on jobs in tourism and were counting on the State government to get them back in work and back in business.