i3 Group Upbeat About Payroll Tax Threshold Increase in WA

March 1, 2013 - PRLog -- Troy Buswell of the ruling Liberal Party of Western Australia - who is also the Treasurer of the State - has said that if re-elected to power, his party will raise the payroll tax threshold to $850,000 by 2016-17. i3 Group, one of Australia's leading payroll processing services ( http://www.i3group.com.au/payroll_services ), says businesses will gain from the move.

He was addressing a business forum when he made the statement. The payroll tax threshold in Australia is currently capped at $750,000 and it has not changed since the last ten years.

But Mr. Buswell added that the raise will happen gradually. It will first be increased to $800,000 in 2014-15 before it is finally raised to $850,000 by 2016-17. Mr. Buswell expects the move to shave off about $30 million from the state's annual budget. When the tax threshold is fully raised the state treasury might take a revenue hit of $60 million.

The announcement comes in the wake of the Western Australia Labor party ruling out any form of payroll tax reform. Western Australia's Chamber of Commerce and Industry was disappointed with Labor party's decision.

i3 Group, Australia's top payroll services provider has welcomed the move albeit cautiously. A company spokesperson said that while it would have been better if the threshold was increased some more, any improvement was welcome. Companies can now look forward to hiring more staff members, and it also bodes well for local and national employment rates.

In fact, small businesses wanted the threshold increased to $1.5 million. Mr. Buswell rejected any such move saying that if it were implemented, the state would lose $1.2 billion over a four year period and Western Australia could not afford it, given that the state's debt is rising. While the Liberal announcement came as a dampener to many who were expecting more from the government, some are at least satisfied that it is still better than the Labor position on the matter.

John Nicolaou of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that it was some consolation that the Liberal government had at least taken cognizance of the problems businesses were facing and had recognized that the payroll tax threshold was a significant issue. But he also warned that the increase in the threshold would allow businesses to only add one more employee.

About i3 Group

i3 Group is a specialist payroll outsourcing company ( http://www.i3group.com.au/contact ) that provides its services across many industries. Payroll solutions from i3 Group are highly customizable. The group's payroll services have been acknowledged for their reasonable costs and significant time savings.

Contact Details

i3Group
http://www.i3group.com.au/
Phone: (+613) 8340 1600