22 May 2015

Budget silent on small business

The Government has completely ignored one of the most important sectors of the economy – small and medium-sized enterprises – in Budget 2015, Labour’s Small Business spokesperson Jacinda Ardern says.

A stunning 41 per cent of jobs were created by SMEs last year - no government should take that for granted.

“If we are to tackle two of the biggest weaknesses in our economy – lack of diversity, and regional disparities – then this is an area the Government should be focused on.

“There are any number of ideas that National could have taken on board – increase the amount of procurement undertaken by small business, adopt the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants ‘no more than one hour, one return and one payment each month for income tax and GST compliance’, redirect resources to reduce red tape, give employers the equivalent of the dole if they take on an apprentice, and perhaps top of the list, simplify provisional tax.

“These are all ideas Labour has said we would adopt in Government.

“There are many others and Andrew Little used his state of the nation speech to highlight the priority we need to give to small businesses. They are the key to New Zealand once again having the lowest unemployment rate in the OECD.

“We will have even more to say on small business and the ideas we have formulated with them over the coming year. It’s shame that in the interim, the Government hasn’t had anything to say and doesn’t look like having much to say into the future either.”

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