Business owners, including regular SmartCompany finance commentator and small-business owner Stacey Price, claimed the write-off didn’t support businesses on the smaller side of town and with few assets to deduct, calling on the government to “actually help the little guy”.
Price told SmartCompany she feels like she’s the “only person who doesn’t love it”, but things business owners can get caught up in thinking they’re going to have $30,000 written off their tax bill.
“I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with it, as a lot of SMEs don’t know it how it works,” she says.
“Also, a lot of micro-businesses don’t have $30,000 to spend in the first place, so they go out and borrow $30,000 to buy thing they don’t need, which won’t necessarily reduce their tax.”
Price says she’d prefer to see initiatives from the government to aid new business owners, like a financial incentive or rebate for people undertaking training courses on how to run a business.
“I’d love for there to be an incentive for starting a business, because usually there’s just a disincentive,” she says.
The government has also refuted pushes by small-business advocates to make the popular scheme permanent, again indicating the write-off will be up for review in June 2020.