Opinion: Too many stupid ideas in election campaign, here’s a smart one

There are so many stupid ideas flying around this election campaign, the smart ones can’t get a look-in, writes Phillip Di Bella.

The Coffee Commune’s Phillip Di Bella

If only we could tax stupid, Queensland would have money to burn.

There are so many stupid ideas flying around in this election campaign, it’s just about impossible for the smart ones to get a look in.

Between free lunches, government-owned petrol stations and duplicating the existing state-owned energy retailer, no one is talking about the things government does that cause genuine pain for Queenslanders.

For decades businesses owners – yes the people who provide the first job to your kids – have been warning that our payroll tax system is outdated, unfair, and crippling growth.

Can you imagine taxing people for the privilege of creating new jobs, or giving staff a pay rise? That truly is dumb. But it’s what they do.

At its core, payroll tax is a penalty for doing what businesses are supposed to do: create jobs and contribute to the economy. It makes no sense to charge businesses a tax for employing people, especially when they are already paying wages and benefits.

Let’s start with the most glaring issue – how disconnected payroll tax has become from the reality of wage growth. In recent years, wages have increased significantly, and businesses are paying more to attract and retain staff. However, the payroll tax threshold — the point at which businesses must start paying this tax — has not moved in Queensland since 2012.

This mismatch means that what was designed as a tax on big business is now putting an enormous strain on small and medium-sized enterprises that are already battling rising costs.

Premier Steven Miles (foreground) and Opposition Leader David Crisafulli debate on Wednesday. Picture: John Gass/NCA NewsWire

A struggling cafe that has lost money for months is still required to pay payroll tax if their wage bill exceeds the threshold.

Ideally payroll tax should be completely abolished. But given that it generates more than $8bn every year, the Queensland government simply cannot afford to get rid of it.

As a first step, the next government needs to move urgently to make these changes to payroll tax:

• Lift the wage threshold to $2m before payroll tax applies.

• Take the tax burden off businesses that are losing money struggling to survive.

• Remove the unfair practice of grouping businesses together for payroll tax calculations – tax each business on its own merits.

There’s a little over a week to go in the election campaign.

Hopefully some of that time will be dedicated to talking about these real and important issues that are affecting millions of Queenslanders, instead of seeing how many billions can be thrown at the next stupid idea.

But if that’s not possible, then instead of taxing job creation maybe someone needs to work out a way to tax stupid.

Queensland would be a very wealthy state indeed.

Phillip Di Bella is founder and executive chairman of The Coffee Commune