President's Report
By Rod Henderson
 Business
continues to be the punching bag with new taxes being proposed.
Malaga is a significant support base to the mining sector and must
be very
worried about the so called Resource Super Profits Tax. The spin-off
to other
businesses is just a matter of course as the pain will filter down
the line.
Any new tax with an excuse that it is part of a review or in
place of a different
tax must be treated with strong scepticism. The Federal governments
push to
tax the States constitutional royalty base has been covered with
sugar to make
it look good for NSW and Vic but will have a bitter aftertaste
for WA and QLD.
Consider the GST which is supposed to be returned
to the States. We only see
68 cents in every dollar meaning that WA is feeding billions into
the rust
bucket States such as NSW and Victoria.
We are told that we will get money back for our minerals to build
infrastructure
etc. How long do you think that would last when Canberra needs
to pork barrel
the large States leading up to an election? We only control about
15 votes in
the House of Representatives out of around 150.
It is clear that Western Australians will cop a raw deal as we
do under the GST.
The loss of our income taxation laws during World War II and never
returned,
was this States biggest political mistake now that we are prospering.
To balance
this argument some would say that WA was struggling in a fiscal
sense
until only recently.
It does not mean that we should roll over and let Canberra attempt
to change
the rules that will ultimately further disadvantage us. It is up
to all WA businesses
to condemn this grab for more of your tax dollars be it directly
or indirectly.
The MDBA is part of the Combined Small Business Alliance of WA.
CoSBA continues
to fight for our rights at all levels of government. When you consider
the
higher costs of utilities, Federal, State and Local government
taxes, duties and
levies, we need to unite and make our views known. We also need
to ensure
that our royalty taxes are collected and spent here in WA.
Someone once said that uniting small business was like herding
cats. That may
be the case due to such a diversity of business needs but when
a profit is demonised
as being “super” we must consider where the thinking
might go beyond
the mining industry.
Visit the CoSBA website each Friday to see current information
relevant to
small business. www.cosba.com.au
Planning is underway for this year’s Dinner/Auction. Your
generous donations
are very important to assist in funding the MDBA. But more than
that we need
you to book a table, come along, enjoy the evening, do some networking
and
have a great night out.
Best wishes
Rod Henderson,
President |
