Bosses hope support at hand in budget

April 16th, 2012

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

Small business hopes the May 8 federal budget will contain initiatives to support struggling firms, as a new survey found that over a quarter of bosses are not expecting an improvement in the economy for years.

Research by business software provider MYOB found that just 19 per cent of business owners and managers of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) expect the economy to improve within the next 12 months, just over half the level when asked the same question a year earlier.

The MYOB 2012 Business Monitor found that 26 per cent do not expect an improvement in the economy for at least two years, the highest proportion since July 2009.

MYOB CEO Tim Reed said the results paint a “stark picture” of the financial and emotional challenges facing small business owners.

“They will need significant support from their networks and the government in order to swim strongly through these challenging times,” Mr Reed said releasing the survey results on Tuesday.

Over half of the 1043 respondents remain dissatisfied with support they get from the government.

A dissatisfaction rating of 52 per cent was only just a shade below a record high of 56 per cent posted last year, and up sharply from 38 per cent in March 2010.

Mr Reed said Small Business Minister Brendan O’Connor faces a disillusioned sector, although a number of measures presently being discussed to ease the burden of SMEs are a “step in the right direction”.

Last Friday, Treasurer Wayne Swan released the Business Tax Working Group’s final report that recommended changes to the way business losses are treated for tax purposes.

The “loss carry-back” scheme is where a company applies operating losses to a preceding year’s income to reduce tax liabilities.

Currently, businesses have to wait until they are profitable.

Mr Reed said such a scheme would be “welcomed loudly” by a sector that needs measures such as this to make life a little easier.

However, rising fuel prices again ranked the highest as causing the greatest pain to businesses over the coming year, with 26 per cent saying they put “quite a lot of pressure” on their costs and 14 per cent saying they exert “extreme pressure”.

Cashflow problems were seen as the second pressure point for the next year, taking over interest rate worries that slipped to third.

Mr Reed said these, along with daunting levels of paperwork, are keeping business owners awake at night.

“They will applaud any government initiatives that inject funds into their bank accounts and take away some of the tax time pain,” Mr Reed said.