Sage calls for greater small business representatives in government

Experts on the panel said government is often reliant on businesses to tell them what the issues are so it is important to have a government including ministers who are small business owners.

Sage global chief executive Stephen Kelly said small businesses were the “engine room of the economy” with small businesses making up two thirds of the economy and 280,000 new businesses started in Australia last year.

The panel identified a number of challenges impacting small businesses at the moment including the burden of red tape, high taxes, tax issues that prevent investors from investing in small business and navigating regulations across three tiers of government.

The experts on the panel questioned whether the government was currently doing enough to encourage startups.

While the government has acknowledged  tax is too high, the panel said it needs to actually implement strategies to lower the tax rate for small business over the next ten years.

The experts called upon the government to work with Labor on simplifying policies and changes for business owners, cutting red tape at a Federal level, cutting taxes and work on moving data around more smoothly in a transaction sense.

Funds could be unlocked from the Google tax, the panel said and diverted to helping small businesses proposer and for boosting training and innovation for small business.