PAUL MURRAY:
I love a country where the harder you work the better your life gets. Not the more tax you pay, not the more thumps you get around the head, not the harder life becomes. But I was fascinated and so pleased to read today in the Financial Review that the new Federal Government, who unlike the last mob, who had 24 different small business ministers and they treated it like a small ministry and outpost of Government. This Government is putting small business, bang, in the cabinet. It is as important as defence, as health, as anything else, as it should be. Today the brand new Small Business Minister Mr Bruce Billson has a clear message to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), lay off small business. He joins us now. Minister, good morning.
BRUCE BILLSON:
Good morning to you Paul and your listeners.
MURRAY:
Bruce my first chance to say it by the way congratulations as being confirmed as a Minister, how does it feel?
BILLSON:
Look it is an extremely proud moment to represent people I have a great admiration and respect for that really create the wealth and opportunities, not only for themselves Paul but their communities right across this vast continent of ours and they deserve support and energy. I aim to work as hard for their success as they do.
MURRAY:
So how does this work? You obviously. Well no one is giving a free pass to small business to go back to the bad old days of cash and do deals under the table. But what do you mean when you say to the ATO hey, you know fair share but don't turn them upside down and shake them for every cent they've got?
BILLSON:
Well we've seen in the dash for cash as the previous Government sort to improve its budget position it seemed to think that the small business community and family businesses were the soft touch. They went pretty hard after that group and our community even after warnings from the Inspector General of Taxation that there were 5,800 small businesses, Paul, who were issued with amended tax assessments that were just wrong but small businesses didn't have the resources and power to take on the tax office. That is an example of where we are looking for the tax office, in fact all the economic and regulatory bodies of the Commonwealth, to be aware of the challenges small businesses are facing, that they're crucial to economic growth and prosperity and to give them a fair go. That's where I will be exercising the influence I have across the Commonwealth to make sure we put the business back into small business.
MURRAY:
There is also a very particular type of small business that has been ignored for too long, it's no longer ignored, it's this idea of the sole trader. They don't have a fixed address. The office they have setup is in a spare room at home and the rest of it is time in a ute or time moving around with a set of scissors going from house to house. These are the people we need to try to take care of.
BILLSON:
Look I agree with you and those self-employed people are taking risks, many of them mortgage their homes and some would say they need to mortgage their first born at times to get finance and the like. They're having a go. For many people, whether it's a mature aged person looking to not keep working but a way to keep contributing to the economy that suits their circumstances, that generates an income for themselves and puts some economic life in their communities. It's ideally suited yet they are often at the pointy end of harsh and in some cases of an overreach of regulatory crackdown not recognising their particular circumstances and the challenges they are facing.
MURRAY:
Yeah. I know that there is all sorts of conversations that can happen into the future and that there is a lot to happen between now and then about changing the rates of tax and all the rest of it. But are there other bullets that you can fire in the chamber here to try to take care of small business, about the way that it reports, how frequently it has to report, and the regulations that they have to get under. What are the things on your to do list?
BILLSON:
We put a comprehensive policy plan together. It's my task to implement that and make sure we deliver on those undertakings. Clearly the early gains for many small businesses will be the abolition of the carbon tax, something that has added a lot of costs to their business expenses but no compensation, none of the carve outs and its really made a difficult trading environment worse. In areas like independent contracting the laws is quite clear yet we've seen the tax office going pretty hard on people and unilaterally deciding that they are not contractors and just denying them an ABN or following up with requirements for additional payments where the small business doesn't have the capacity to compete. $1 billion worth of red-tape reduction, and my friend and college Arthur is on with you later in the morning, and he and I will be busy working on those fronts. Even the way the competition laws operate, Paul, where we have committed to a 'root and branch' review of those competition laws. It has been over 20 years since that was last done. We want competition on the basis of merit not muscle and we've seen examples where the big guys exercise extraordinary influences over smaller businesses and their suppliers. We want to make sure we've got laws that actually support the longer term prosperity of our economy. That doesn't mean cracking down needlessly and excessively on smaller business people and entrepreneurs that are just having a go.
MURRAY:
There are businesses though who really do undercut everyone else who is trying to do honestly. Now I am talking about builders that don't have licences, I'm talking about lawn blokes who will only do for cash and they undercut the people who do actually pay all their insurances and the rest of it. Are you aware, does the ATO have a system where there is say a central telephone number where I can ring in and say you know Paul Murray Contracting I just want to dob them in because they only do jobs for cash.
BILLSON:
Yeah I think there are call centres that can take those calls Paul because you are absolutely right. We don't want people doing the wrong thing. What our concern has been is that people doing the right thing are getting caught on the sticky paper where there is no reasonable justification for doing so. We don't want people dodging their responsibilities, we don't want businesses big or small not making a fair contribution to the taxes that fund the necessary works and services that we have. What we're on about is making sure that those extraordinary powers that agencies like the tax office have are used wisely and if people are aware of people doing the wrong thing the laws are there Paul, the laws are there to take action against those people and action should be taken. But for those that are finding themselves at the pointy end of enforcement activity where they haven't done the wrong thing but they just don't have the resources to take on a behemoth organisation like the tax office that's where we start getting bad outcomes for our community and for our economy.
MURRAY:
Yeah absolutely. Alright nice to talk to you Minister. Let's keep talking because I know the task is in front of you. The promises were difficult. The election is behind you and now it is action time and I'm pleased to see the best foot going forward as we speak. All the best to you.
BILLSON:
Thanks Paul and thanks for your interest in the small business community.