This
year’s Budget is different. It is a more blatant political exercise, designed
to stimulate an important part of our economy (small business) and prepare the
Coalition for an election mid next year. It will be difficult for the
Opposition to challenge the Small Business components of the Budget because
many of the ingredients have come from their own policy book.
As
the mining sector loses its gloss, the government is looking to small business
to kick-start a revival and create new opportunities in the Australian economy.
As Joe Hockey said – “Our future growth will
come from growing small business into big business.”
The
tax incentives for Small Business are great. They have been described as “unprecedented in scale and generosity“. But when businesses
are struggling to make the profits that are needed to make those tax incentives
relevant, it is consumer confidence and a lift in retail sales that really
count. That may happen, depending on the public response to the budget measures - time will tell. We traders can rightly feel good about the budget measures and let's hope the broader public feel the same.