Ms MARTIN - 1999-04-28
The Chief Minister indicated yesterday, and your budget indicated, that you would give Territory businesses a break on payroll tax. Under yesterday's ‘no energy, no leadership, no vision budget’ the Country Liberal Party administration will gain an extra $6.6m in payroll tax receipts. This still leaves Territory businesses facing the toughest payroll tax regime in Australia. When will you give businesses, Territory businesses, a break?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, that question is full of inaccuracies which my capable Treasurer is champing at the bit to answer. But I can give you the reality of the payroll tax changes. We have simplified the system. We’ve cut the differences between the Northern Territory and other states in terms of how companies, particularly if they deal interstate, calculate their payroll tax obligations. We have aimed our efforts at 87% of businesses, I think its 84% or 87% of businesses, and we’ve carefully looked at the businesses that will be advantaged. For the most part, they will be advantaged to the tune of about 15% reduction in their payroll tax obligations. Certainly one business that has already done the calculations is the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, an interesting organisation to comment, and their calculation already is a reduction in payroll tax for their own organisation by 16.88%.
In terms of some of the other inaccuracies in the question, I’ll refer that to the Treasurer.
Mr REED (Treasurer): Thank you, Mr Speaker, and I am very grateful to the Leader of the Opposition, for providing the best example that she is an economic illiterate. Because, in reading the budget papers and noting, at least she noted, that there was an increase projected in the budget from payroll tax …
Ms Martin: Absolutely.
Mr REED: Absolutely, she says, so she acknowledges that. Thank you for that acknowledgment. But what she then did ...
Mr Bailey: We have the highest electricity charges in Australia.
Mr REED: Don’t try and divert attention away from your boss who’s got it wrong. This, then, is what happened. She made an assumption, because there was an increase in the budget papers of revenue from payroll tax, that that increase was attributable to the amendments to the payroll tax regime. Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong, and this is why she’ll never get into government, because she doesn’t understand how government works, how the economy works, and how the budget papers are meant to be interpreted.
So she’s made an assumption that, because the budget papers show an increase in revenue from payroll tax, that that comes from the payroll tax changes. The revenue in overall terms from payroll tax because of the amendments, in fact, decreases. We lose money because of the changes to the payroll tax.
Where the revenue is increased, and this won’t please the Leader of the Opposition, it’s increased because: the economy’s growing, the level of activity is growing, more people are being employed in the Northern Territory, further reducing our unemployment rate, and as more people are employed, as more businesses pay payroll tax, the revenue from payroll tax, does what? It goes up! Find another adviser. Sack the one you’ve got. Certainly don’t listen to him, because he couldn’t get it right, the member for Wanguri, when he was shadow Treasurer either. So there is the fundamental flaw in the way that the honourable, the Leader of the Opposition, and opposition spokesman for Treasury matters, fails to be able to understand the budget papers. She is an economic illiterate, can’t understand what the actual information provided in the budget papers means, and that’s why she misrepresents the facts to Territorians, and that’s why she has to cover it up. She has to cover up her incompetence with half truths and mis-truths to try and dampen the benefits that will accrue to Territorians from the budget. Do your homework and find out how it works, because you got it wrong!
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, that question is full of inaccuracies which my capable Treasurer is champing at the bit to answer. But I can give you the reality of the payroll tax changes. We have simplified the system. We’ve cut the differences between the Northern Territory and other states in terms of how companies, particularly if they deal interstate, calculate their payroll tax obligations. We have aimed our efforts at 87% of businesses, I think its 84% or 87% of businesses, and we’ve carefully looked at the businesses that will be advantaged. For the most part, they will be advantaged to the tune of about 15% reduction in their payroll tax obligations. Certainly one business that has already done the calculations is the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, an interesting organisation to comment, and their calculation already is a reduction in payroll tax for their own organisation by 16.88%.
In terms of some of the other inaccuracies in the question, I’ll refer that to the Treasurer.
Mr REED (Treasurer): Thank you, Mr Speaker, and I am very grateful to the Leader of the Opposition, for providing the best example that she is an economic illiterate. Because, in reading the budget papers and noting, at least she noted, that there was an increase projected in the budget from payroll tax …
Ms Martin: Absolutely.
Mr REED: Absolutely, she says, so she acknowledges that. Thank you for that acknowledgment. But what she then did ...
Mr Bailey: We have the highest electricity charges in Australia.
Mr REED: Don’t try and divert attention away from your boss who’s got it wrong. This, then, is what happened. She made an assumption, because there was an increase in the budget papers of revenue from payroll tax, that that increase was attributable to the amendments to the payroll tax regime. Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong, and this is why she’ll never get into government, because she doesn’t understand how government works, how the economy works, and how the budget papers are meant to be interpreted.
So she’s made an assumption that, because the budget papers show an increase in revenue from payroll tax, that that comes from the payroll tax changes. The revenue in overall terms from payroll tax because of the amendments, in fact, decreases. We lose money because of the changes to the payroll tax.
Where the revenue is increased, and this won’t please the Leader of the Opposition, it’s increased because: the economy’s growing, the level of activity is growing, more people are being employed in the Northern Territory, further reducing our unemployment rate, and as more people are employed, as more businesses pay payroll tax, the revenue from payroll tax, does what? It goes up! Find another adviser. Sack the one you’ve got. Certainly don’t listen to him, because he couldn’t get it right, the member for Wanguri, when he was shadow Treasurer either. So there is the fundamental flaw in the way that the honourable, the Leader of the Opposition, and opposition spokesman for Treasury matters, fails to be able to understand the budget papers. She is an economic illiterate, can’t understand what the actual information provided in the budget papers means, and that’s why she misrepresents the facts to Territorians, and that’s why she has to cover it up. She has to cover up her incompetence with half truths and mis-truths to try and dampen the benefits that will accrue to Territorians from the budget. Do your homework and find out how it works, because you got it wrong!
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016