Dentist claims payroll tax hurting health recruitment in North Queensland

The former owner of 1300 Smiles has slammed a new payroll tax, claiming it’s adding yet another hurdle to recruiting dentists in North Queensland. Find out more.

Former 1300 Smiles owner and semi-retired dentist Daryl Holmes has criticised a state payroll tax which he said was hurting larger regional practices. Picture: Zak Simmonds

A Townsville dentist has blasted a payroll tax rollout which he said has created yet another barrier in North Queensland’s fight to recruit health professionals.

Former 1300 Smiles owner, Daryl Holmes, who continues to practice as a semi-retired professional at its Belgian Gardens clinic, accused the state government of “gouging” with its payroll tax as health practices were required to backpay for the previous five financial years.

And while the State Government offered an amnesty last year for affected general practitioners, dentists such as Dr Holmes have also been feeling the backlash of a cost-of-living crisis as clients cut back on their treatments.

But a spokesman for Deputy Premier Cameron Dick said affected businesses were those with waged bills between $1.3m to $6.5m, and that the tax would be 3.75 per cent.

“Queensland has one of the most generous payroll tax regimes in the country,” the spokesman said.

He said for small and medium businesses in both New South Wales and Victoria, the payroll tax threshold was lower and the tax rate was higher.

But Dr Holmes said the tax put a large burden on the big health practices in regional communities trying to draw in dentists from Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast.

A struggle for recruitment was obvious in remote outback communities such as Cloncurry, almost 800km southwest of Townsville, which was desperate to recruit a full-time dentist, but Dr Holmes said even North Queensland’s unofficial capital needed more dentists too.

He said the payroll tax burdened larger health practices rather than individual dentists, such as 1300 Smiles that required three to five dentists, which would require backtracking on up to five years in taxes.

“It is outrageous that the Queensland Government would impose this unfair new tax on dental

care at a time when people are already struggling to pay for the basics like food and rent,” Dr

Holmes said.

“Many dentists in Townsville have spent years building up their practices, getting to know their patients and often caring for their whole families.

“To suddenly hit them with these backdated tax liabilities going back six years is devastating to them personally and to their businesses.”

The Queensland Revenue Office offered an amnesty of a payroll tax to general practitioners, which would allow them not to have to backpay for the past five financial years, but these applications closed in November last year.

Dr Holmes said dentists should also have been eligible for amnesty given the need for their services.

“Access to basic dental care is critical to the health of Queenslanders and just as important as

being able to see a GP so it makes no sense to ignore dentists but grant an amnesty to doctors,” he said.

“Anything that further threatens access to basic healthcare is disgraceful and Queenslanders

deserve better.”

Originally published as Dentist claims payroll tax hurting health recruitment in North Queensland