Budget lacks vision: Accountants
The Federal Government's Budget provides positives for small business, but fails to deliver the reforms required to put Australia on course for a prosperous future, CPA Australian believes.
CPA Australia chief executive, Alex Malley, said the "Budget lacks a real vision and commitment to the serious and overdue structural reforms that are desperately needed to secure Australia's future".
"It's evident that the Government has been spooked by the negative reception it got from its first budget," he said.
"When the focus of a budget is on minimising how many people you offend, you know it is not about charting a course for the country's future prosperity.
"Minimising bad news isn't good news, especially when the challenges for our country are significant… Deferring problems to future budgets with a nod and a ‘she'll be right' wink is unacceptable."
Malley said that while the tax cuts for small businesses and the tax discount for unincorporated businesses announced in the Budget were positives, the CPA Australia chief executive said "more needs to be done to boost Australia's tax competitiveness".
"Despite a cut to 28.5 percent Australia still remains out of sync with the rest of the developed world where corporate tax rates have fallen significantly over recent years," he said.
"You only need to look at the UK where the corporate tax rate has fallen steadily from 28 per cent down 20 per cent in recent years.
"Australia needs an across-the-board company tax rate cut to increase productivity and to increase jobs."
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