Less than 1 in 3 small businesses satisfied with government support

The level of satisfaction with the federal government’s support of small business remained steady at 31 per cent compared to 33 per cent the previous wave, MYOB’s Business Monitor report revealed.

Dissatisfaction levels also remained steady at 26 per cent, while 41 per cent of operators stated they were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied.

Higher dissatisfaction was noted by businesses whose revenue had declined in the previous 12 months (40 per cent), construction and trades businesses (34 per cent), Baby Boomers (32 per cent compared to 21 per cent of Gen Y operators) and males (29 per cent).

Regarding state government support, 32 per cent of small businesses said they were dissatisfied, compared to 31 per cent last wave, while 31 per cent expressed their satisfaction, up by 2 percentage points. A further 35 per cent of operators stated they were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied.

Government policies 

Policies committing the government and big business to pay small businesses within 30 days, keeping the instant tax write-off, simplification of BAS/GST and reducing the company tax rate for all businesses to 25 per cent were viewed favourably by operators, MYOB revealed.

At the other end of the scale, the introduction of paid parental leave for all businesses with a revenue over $5 million (25 per cent) and the removal of the threshold at which GST were collected on goods purchased from abroad (18 per cent) were more likely to cause operators to vote against the party proposing it.

Gen Y operators were less likely to vote for several of the nominated policies, but were much more supportive of the introduction of a paid parental leave levy on all businesses over $5 million revenue (48 per cent). The views of Baby Boomers and Traditionalists tended to be opposite, MYOB data showed.