Labor attack on small business

[moXJO]

At the risk of another political thread I feel this issue has the potential to devastate small business.
Tried to just take the effects of the review from the original. Warrants further investigation as it has the potential to send small business into the abyss. Nick Sherry is an absolute knob and makes Barnaby Joyce a serious contender.

Unions have been hell bent on pushing their agenda through, and have been getting their way a bit to much lately. Up to a point it is fine but this is just stupidity. This has the potential to close the voting gap between labor and libs imo.

Sherry appears to be concocting one of the biggest attacks ever mounted on the small business community by a government minister in direct violation of solemn promises made by Kevin Rudd’s ALP at the last election.

In a nutshell, what happened was the Board of Taxation came up with a series of outrageous recommendations and Sherry – instead of saying that these recommendations were against ALP policy and that they would send small business into chaos – gave them his blessing and even thanked the unions for their input. Sherry has sent them off to the Henry Committee for review (Full coverage: Henry tax review).

So here are just a few of the ideas that Sherry now has on his agenda.

Each plumber or computer consultant in Australia will need to differentiate between their income from capital (spanners, shovels and computers) and their income from labour (digging the ditches and writing software).

Under the Sherry-blessed plan, part of the income derived from labour would be attributed to the person who supplied the labour and those people would be treated as employees – not business people. The income earned on capital could be returned to the owner(s) of the capital, which may differ from the person who provided the labour. Have you ever heard of anything more stupid? But the Sherry-blessed plan gets worse.

The plumber and computer person must make an annual report to the ATO so that the ATO can match data to see how many clients they have had in a year. If more than 80 per cent of the business income came from one group then whammo! You are an employee.

And once the plumber and computer consultant are deemed to be employees, all their business deductions will be looked at in a different light. Their customers may be required to deduct tax when they pay the invoice.

And, oh yes, every business must have two employees to be a business.

http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/One-man-can-make-Abbott-PM-pd20100303-36RPT?OpenDocument&src=sph&WELCOME=REGISTERED OK

Also here (again will have to register)
http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/Chaos-looms-for-SMEs-pd20100304-37SK2?OpenDocument&src=rab

It’s free to register on this site. Liberals should be all over this. Surely no one could be this stupid then to attempt this? It may be quashed but this is one of the reasons small business turned on labor before.

 

[GumbyLearner]

At the risk of another political thread I feel this issue has the potential to devastate small business.
Tried to just take the effects of the review from the original. Warrants further investigation as it has the potential to send small business into the abyss. Nick Sherry is an absolute knob and makes Barnaby Joyce a serious contender.

Unions have been hell bent on pushing their agenda through, and have been getting their way a bit to much lately. Up to a point it is fine but this is just stupidity. This has the potential to close the voting gap between labor and libs imo.

Oops and I forgot your ability to pay taxes to fund their programs!


http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/One-man-can-make-Abbott-PM-pd20100303-36RPT?OpenDocument&src=sph&WELCOME=REGISTERED OK

Also here (again will have to register)
http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/Chaos-looms-for-SMEs-pd20100304-37SK2?OpenDocument&src=rab

It’s free to register on this site. Liberals should be all over this. Surely no one could be this stupid then to attempt this? It may be quashed but this is one of the reasons small business turned on labor before.

Tony Abbott new PM?

I'm sure the incumbents will put bells and whistles on this to sell it.

Look out if you don't have a boss! The government has an unrequited love for you!

 

[Trembling Hand]

Match the thinking to the experience,

Biography for SHERRY, the Hon. Nicholas (Nick) John

Qualifications and Occupation before entering Federal Parliament
BA (Tas).
Secretary, Tasmanian University Union and various business committees 1976-79.
Cashier and night auditor, Wrest Point Hotel Casino 1976-79.
State Secretary, Federated Liquor and Allied Industries Union (Tas) 1979-90; National Councillor and Trustee 1981-90; Negotiator, superannuation, education, training and career path design, Federated Liquor and Allied Industries Union (Tas) 1979-90.
Board Member, College of Hospitality 1980-90.
State Executive, Tasmanian Trades and Labour Council 1985-1990, President 1988-1990.
Trustee, Host-Plus Superannuation Fund 1986-90.
Manager, Trustee, Company Secretary, Club-Plus (Tas) Superannuation Fund 1987-1992.
Board Member, Hospitality Group Training 1985-90.
Board Member, Employment and Skills Formation Council 1988-1990.

Not much in there that shows an "occupation". Besides being a "professional" union man

 

[GumbyLearner]

Match the thinking to the experience,

Biography for SHERRY, the Hon. Nicholas (Nick) John



Not much in there that shows an "occupation". Besides being a "professional" union man

I wonder what his favorite cocktail and/or beer is?

 

[moXJO]

Hey TH I wonder if this means that if I did work for you on 2-3 jobs for the year and no one else that you would then have to pay my super, workers comp and take my tax out. Sounds too stupid but that seems to be the gist of it.
This is really a shocker, a big BIG shocker

 

[Smurf1976]

Match the thinking to the experience,

Biography for SHERRY, the Hon. Nicholas (Nick) John



Not much in there that shows an "occupation". Besides being a "professional" union man

Another one in addition to those you highlighted. Tasmanian Trades and Labour Council = union.

The only thing that could really be considered as real world work experience is 3 years at the casino, and that was 1976 - 79 so not exactly recent. The rest is all union-related or being a board member, neither of which is typical of the working situation of most Australians.

 

[Smurf1976]

Each plumber or computer consultant in Australia will need to differentiate between their income from capital (spanners, shovels and computers) and their income from labour (digging the ditches and writing software).

Hmm...

How would I write computer software without a computer?

How would I dig without shovels, excavators etc?

How would I work on a car engine without spanners etc?

The capital and labour are both required to get the job done. The proposal is like trying to attribute part of the travel of a car to the engine, part to the driver and part to the tyres - in reality you need all of them working all at once and one is useless without the other.

What's the go here? Do they actually want to lose the next election? Or are they just plain crazy?

 

[moXJO]

Hmm...

How would I write computer software without a computer?

How would I dig without shovels, excavators etc?

How would I work on a car engine without spanners etc?

The capital and labour are both required to get the job done. The proposal is like trying to attribute part of the travel of a car to the engine, part to the driver and part to the tyres - in reality you need all of them working all at once and one is useless without the other.

What's the go here? Do they actually want to lose the next election? Or are they just plain crazy?

I think they were trying to keep the wrap on it.
Word is out now though amongst small business. And once people realize what it means, it will probably be quashed down. Another case of too Union heavy, and it is about to get worse

 

[GumbyLearner]

I wonder what his favorite cocktail and/or beer is?

Surely it's not Sherry? : Another toolbag looking for a home.

 

[moXJO]

After being all tired and cranky last night, I had a nap and re-read the article. I made the wrong assumption that there would be changes to the way ‘personal services income' was tested. However the article seems to skip around if there are any changes to it, my mistake. In fact there are a few holes in the article and not enough detail. Will look around for further info regarding the whole issue

 

[cornnfedd]

I am pretty sure that if you already own a business and you have 80% or more of your work with one company you are actually considered an employee of that company to some extent.

 

[Garpal Gumnut]

Its basically communism by stealth.

They want everyone working for the guvment and everyone in a union.

They hate small business because they cannot control it. Its all about power.

Once they achieve that the guvment and the unions merge.

Rudd still keeps his millions and gets the UN post.

gg