Business says Labor's tax changes like a plastic surgery 'freak show'

Skye Cappuccio says she would have liked to have seen more exemptions for small business. (ABC News: Callum Flinn) She said the sector was hoping for increases to other tax concessions, but the change was important to the additional 180,000 businesses that fall within that threshold.  "So, not as far as we were hoping, but nonetheless, very much welcome and important," she said. Instead, it increases the tax burden, will reduce investment and therefore sets the nation back." Meanwhile, industry groups representing smaller sectors, including medical technology, said they were pleased with Labor's changes.  Oz Biotech chief executive Rebecca Cassidy said Labor had recognised the nature of health technology innovation, which could assist with medical breakthroughs.   "Running clinical trials is an expensive activity and it is long and precise, absolutely by necessity. These products are designed to help improve human health," she said. Likewise Judy Anderson Firth, who co-chairs the Startup Network, said the overhaul was important for investing into artificial intelligence technology. "If we don't invest now, that wave of technology disruption is going to pass us by," she said. Independent Wentworth MP Allegra Spender applauded the government for updating its proposed changes in the budget, but added the amendments risked making the system needlessly complicated. "Honestly, I think they should be considering other, more simple models that don't require sort of bureaucracy to assess whether they are innovative or not," Ms Spender said. LoadingMr McKellar said trusts are at the heart of how small businesses across the country manage their operations.  "Think about really every small-to-medium home builder in Australia, almost every pharmacy in Australia, news agents, cafes," he said. "They're probably structured through some sort of discretionary or family trust. "So, the level of complication for those businesses to have to think about restructuring in the future, really there's going to be a lot of work that has to be done to address that." Loading...