Editorial: Federal Budget a big win for the Territory
THE Federal Budget handed down on Tuesday night by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg contained a few pleasant surprises for the NT.
Opinion
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THE federal budget handed down last night by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg contained a few pleasant surprises for the NT.
Not only did we get $51m to support the Royal Darwin Hospital during COVID-19, we also learnt that the NT’s GST situation wouldn’t be as bad as we first thought.
In July, the NT government in its COVID-19 budget update estimated it would lose $608m in GST funding this financial year — which would have brought our total GST pool to just $2.2bn.
This would have been a huge blow considering almost 50 per cent of the Territory’s annual revenue comes from the GST.
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However, last night’s budget revealed the NT will receive $2.7bn in GST instead this financial year, which is still substantially less bad than what we thought it might be.
The Treasurer also announced two major hiring subsidies last night — the JobMaker hiring credit and apprentice wage subsidy which is expected to help create about 5500 jobs in the Territory.
Territory businesses will also get some much-needed relief. There are instant asset write-offs for any Territory business that invests in a new asset and a few other tax concessions that Territory businesses can access.
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There will be tax cuts for Territory workers that will see tens of thousands of Territory workers getting a tax cut straight away.
In a year like 2020, it’s a winning budget for the NT.
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