SMEs Declare Incoming Government Priorities - ScotPac
(18 May 2022 – Australia) The biannual ScotPac Business Finance SME Growth Index showed while 53 percent of SMEs were in favour of the Coalition government’s SME policies, smaller businesses which represented most Australian trading enterprises revealed 45 percent felt Labor had better policies compared to 42 percent for the Coalition.
According to the results based on direct interviews with 700 SMEs in the four weeks to 19 April conducted by East & Partners, the top issues SMEs want the incoming federal government to address were
- Further extension of the accelerated deprecation scheme (24.3 percent).
- Deeper company tax cut relief (18.5 percent).
- Simplified Business Activity Statement (BAS) and regulatory requirements (17.7 percent).
Better targeting of public sector expenditure was viewed as critically important to operations by 16.7 percent of SME leaders. Feedback on policy priorities was consistent with what SMEs said was important to them, mainly that excessive regulation and compliance requirements were a handbrake on small business and the economy.
“The high number of SMEs undecided about the election represents a clear opportunity for both major parties to make their pitch to businesses in the final days of the campaign. There is still a window of opportunity for political parties to sharpen and sell their message to Australia’s SME sector, which is a critical driver of employment and economic activity in this country” ScotPac CEO Jon Sutton said commenting on the results.
“SMEs want government policy support, rather than handouts, to let them focus on running their businesses and employing people. That must be a priority for whoever forms government” Mr Sutton added.
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