Budget 2022: Here’s what small businesses want — and definitely don’t want — in next week’s federal budget

Half of small business owners and key decision-makers see tax reform as a priority in next week’s federal budget, joining industry groups calling for significant changes to the taxation system.

MYOB survey data exclusively provided to SmartCompany ahead of the October 25 budget shows 49.4% of senior small business respondents want tax reform written into the budget.

In calling for tax tweaks, small business respondents join industry groups like the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia, and bigger business representatives like the Business Council of Australia and the Australian Industry Group, to call for amendments.

Beyond calls for a root-and-branch rethink of the tax system, a common theme has emerged among those groups: calls for the Albanese government to either extend the temporary full expensing scheme or make it permanent.

Temporary full expensing allows businesses with annual turnovers below $5 billion to immediately claim a tax write-off for business assets first used or put into place by June 30, 2023.

Expanding that timeframe will bolster business investment, while also protecting businesses that have had scheduled upgrades hampered by supply chain blowouts, the groups say.

The appetite for tax reform surpassed interest in further incentives and reforms around apprenticeships and training, which 42.4% of survey respondents circled as a priority.

Minister for Skills and Training Brendan O’Connor this month said the government would prioritise support measures encouraging apprentices to finish their training.

However, further initiatives like the Morrison government’s $2.8 billion pledge to subsidise apprentice wages may not appear in Labor’s upcoming document.

“There is also no point in boosting the number of apprenticeships if apprentices already in the system are not properly supported and leave before they get their qualification,” O’Connor told the Australian and Victorian Chambers of Commerce and Industry last Wednesday.

“We need to fix the leaks in the bucket before we turn the tap on harder.”

Beyond tax reform and a focus on training support, 39.3% of small business leaders want financial incentives for hiring staff in a tight labour market.

Nearly 37% of respondents called for cuts to red tape, and 30.7% seek incentives for digital training, above and beyond measures like the Technology Boost and Skills and Training Boost which await legislation.

On the flip side, the survey also detailed what measures small business leaders don’t want to see in the federal budget.

Spending cuts topped the list, with 28% of respondents believing the government should not rein in its expenditure.

However, with Treasurer Jim Chalmers flagging Tuesday’s document as something of a financial reality check, the budget is unlikely to mirror the big-ticket business support packages of years gone by.

Nearly one in four small business respondents also hope the budget avoids changes to Australia’s parental leave system.

Those respondents seem even less likely to get what they want: the Albanese government says a further six weeks of leave will be tacked onto the government’s parental leave scheme by 2026, giving parents six months of leave to share.