Budget 2019: Positive and predictable but lacks killer hit

The Budget was delivered today, 2 April by Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg MP, one month early this year, ahead of Australians heading to the polls in May for the federal election.

Overall this was a good Budget, lowering taxes for small businesses and individuals to help stimulate growth, and expanding the size and accessibility of the write-offs to encourage investment. The only minus was increasing funds for regulators, as small business is already overregulated.

The key outcomes affecting small businesses and individuals:

Business changes

• Small business tax cuts have been brought forward by five years, taking their tax rate from 27.5 per cent down to 25 per cent.
• The instant write-off has been extended to cover assets up to $30,000 for businesses with turnovers less than $50 million.

Individual tax cuts

• The first part of the plan is immediate, which includes a doubling of the tax offset announced in last year’s Budget.
• The change means people earning up to $126,000 will get $1,080 back at tax time.
• The coalition will also seek to flatten tax brackets by 2024, cutting the 32.5 per cent tax bracket to 30 per cent.

This is likely to be a vote winner for the coming election, but it did lack a ‘circuit-breaker’ like abolishing capital gains tax.

Overall the Budget is a good effort to help small business but lacked help on regulation.

It will, of course, require an election win to get past senate.

Date published 2 Apr 2019

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