Stop the punitive policies that are crippling our small businesses

POLITICIANS love small businesses.

They appoint a token junior minister (John Perry), with special responsibility for their needs. Ministers like to be photographed at ISME or Small Firms Association conferences or dinners. They empathise with family businesses and local entrepreneurs, citing them as the backbone of an enterprising ethos. Rhetoric and sympathy falls short when it comes to governance. This hypocrisy is most evident in the retail sector, where 35,000 jobs have already been lost over the past five years. A further 30,000 jobs in local indigenous ventures are in peril through an accumulation of public policies.

Most forms of direct taxation are based on principles of being progressive, i.e. the more profit or higher earnings you make, the greater the revenue that’s extracted. Hence tax bands penalise, while lower incomes are more leniently treated. The exception to this is rates on commercial property. Local authorities levy these irrespective of profitability, declining sales or even losses. Sharp hikes have been inflicted over recent years, way in excess of inflation. They represent the principal property tax in the state. Some councils are penal in their approach to commercial revaluation upon which rates are levied. Rates carry preferential creditor status. Campaigns for reform have run into the sand.