Australian retailers say they need a tax ‘holiday’ and a freeze on increases to the minimum wage
Bushfires and the coronavirus have had a huge impact on Australian retailers, but a poll of readers found a majority still want them to pay their tax and pay staff a fair minimum wage.
Retail
Don't miss out on the headlines from Retail. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Life in Shanghai: People are scared, sad, and angry
- Voyage of the damned: Life inside the quarantined cruise
Coronavirus and the bushfires have taken a toll on an already struggling retail sector, but a poll of News Corp readers has found a majority of respondents still wants business to pay their taxes and pay staff a fair minimum wage.
Last week the National Retailers Association called for a range of assistance from different levels of government, including a 12-month payroll tax “holiday” and an exemption to increases in the national minimum wage for businesses affected by bushfires and coronavirus.
The proposals were contained in a “Blueprint for Retail Recovery” prepared by the peak body for 28,000 retail and fast food outlets nationwide, which painted a stark picture of the sector, with business closing and staff job losses.
But a majority of respondents to our polls were not convinced by the measures, with a majority opposing both ideas.
The polls (which ran in this story on all New Corp metro masthead websites) went live on Friday night and as at 9am AEDT on Tuesday, both had drawn in excess of 1000 respondents.
Asked “Do you support a 12-month payroll tax ‘holiday’ for retailers?”, 53 per cent of respondents were opposed, while 38 per cent supported the idea and nine per cent were unsure.
Respondents seemed to be even firmer in their view that businesses should not be exempted from minimum wage rise increases, with 68 per cent opposing the idea and 27 per cent supporting it. Five per cent were unsure.
National Retailers Association CEO Dominique Lamb said retail precincts in or near suburbs with high densities of Asian Australians, such as Sunnybank in Queensland, Market City in Sydney and Box Hill in Melbourne, had been most exposed to the “coronavirus effect”.
Some precincts reported shopper numbers down 60 per cent, and one bubble tea brand experienced a 66 per cent drop in sales in recent weeks, she said.
“Realistically consumers should have no concerns,” she said. “People should be out and about shopping. There is really no risk of people contracting anything.”
She said all three levels of government had an obligation to counter the infection fears that were causing people to stay home.
“That messaging needs to come out at all levels,” she said.
While the exact impact on the sector will only be known with the release of figures for the March quarter, she said, some shopping centres were “the quietest people have ever seen them”.
Asked about the NRA “blueprint” requests, Federal Attorney-General and Minister for Industrial Relations Christian Porter said the Morrison Government had already announced significant assistance for struggling businesses – including retailers – in bushfire affected communities.
“Those measures include recovery grants of up to $50,000 for those businesses directly impacted, concessional loans up to $500,000 and a $76 million package to help rebuild local tourism,” Mr Porter said.
“In relation to the Coronavirus and its impact on businesses such as retailers, the Prime Minister said this week that ‘we are looking at all options that are available to us to mitigate the impact where possible.’
Asked about the payroll tax “holiday” (a state matter), a spokesperson for NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said the Berejiklian Government was “continually examining ways to improve the tax framework to better support job creation and give local businesses more freedom to grow.”
The payroll tax bracket was lifted from $850,000 to $900,000 in July and would be lifted to $1 million in the 2021-22 financial year, saving 38,000 businesses up to $8175 off their tax bill, the spokesperson or Mr Perrottet said.
“Raising the threshold takes immediate pressure off businesses, meaning business owners will have the opportunity to take on that extra staff member or pursue new ideas to grow their business.”
In Victoria, the Andrews government has slashed payroll tax for bushfire-affected businesses to a quarter of the metropolitan rate.
Helen Sawczak, National CEO of the Australia China Business Council, which represents 1000 Australian companies working in China, said the economic impact from the coronavirus would be “profound”.
Affected businesses were dealing with both staff and goods being in limbo, and in some cases trying to seek alternative markets, she said.
“The biggest thing now is the free flow of people. People are stranded between countries,” she said.
“Logistics are at a standstill; there is a quagmire of exports waiting to be distributed at ports.”
Despite the 2003 SARS virus having a higher fatality rate than coronavirus – some 9 per cent of people who contracted SARS died from it, compared to a little over 2 per cent for coronavirus – Ms Sawczak said the economic environment surrounding the two viruses were vastly different.
“China is much more integrated into the global economy than it was in 2003,” she said. “This will hit us harder.”
Nevertheless, businesses are looking to the SARS experience with some hope, she added.
“The experience of SARS in 2003 was that the warmer weather in the northern hemisphere basically stopped the virus, so we are hoping coronavirus may be curtailed in a few weeks time.”
Originally published as Australian retailers say they need a tax ‘holiday’ and a freeze on increases to the minimum wage