Legislative Councillors have passed the state government’s bill to offer payroll tax concessions for businesses that employ trainees, apprentices and young people.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The 2017-18 state budget provided for a $17.1 million payroll tax rebate scheme, which would provide relief to Tasmanian businesses making an effort to hire young workers.
On Tuesday night, MLCs voted unanimously in support of the Payroll Tax Rebate (Apprentices, Trainees and Youth Employees) Bill.
Business proprietors are obliged to pay the payroll tax when the annual sum of the wages they pay exceeds $1.25 million.
From July 1, the Hodgman government’s new legislative scheme will offer tax relief for employers hiring apprentices and trainees between then and June 30, 2019.
Leader of the Government in the upper house Leonie Hiscutt said the scheme would “incentivise” employment and support business growth.
Businesses will be able to claim the rebate for up to two years after the date on which they employ each apprentice or trainee, provided that they register the relevant employee contracts with the Tasmanian Trainee and Apprenticeships Committee.
Concessions will, too, apply when a business employs a young person between the ages of 15 and 24, who is neither an apprentice nor a trainee, in a full or part-time position.
Independent Mersey MLC Mike Gaffney supported the bill but expressed reservations.
He suggested some employers may look to terminate certain employees so as to make space for newly subsidised positions.
Rumney Labor MLC Sarah Lovell wished to know what protections were in place to prevent this from occurring.
Mrs Hiscutt reassured the house that the flexibility of casual employment would discourage businesses from rorting the new scheme.
MLCs also passed a bill to extend the $20,000 first home owner grant for people wishing to build their first home and to facilitate the federal funding for the Mersey Community Hospital.
