Bran Black’s column (Pay states to slash payroll tax on jobs, 4/12) clearly highlights the flawed nature of a state-based payroll tax for national businesses and the overdue need for urgent reform. The Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia welcomes the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into the NSW Payroll Tax Act announced last week.
Our 15,000 members - mortgage brokers and aggregators - are the victims of the perverse and concerning impact of this tax (as reported by James Eyres in this masthead (Mortgage Brokers back NSW payroll tax inquiry, 26/11). Revenue NSW has sought to apply this tax on revenue received by independent small broking businesses, many of whom are sole traders, interpreting the law in a way that was never intended. This is, in essence, a tax on the competition and the benefits mortgage brokers deliver for home borrowers.
The law as constructed doesn’t contemplate how businesses – small broking businesses in particular - operate in the current century. Other small businesses in NSW and across the country are also in the firing line, given payroll tax is largely harmonised across the country.
We agree with the BCA that change is desperately needed. Our opening recommendation is to call the tax for what it is. Not a payroll tax, but a “productivity tax”.
Anja Pannek, CEO, Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia.
