EXPRESS The
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
Locally owned and proudly independent
Springmount off and racing SPRINGMOUNT Raceway held their first meeting at their exciting new facility in Mareeba at the weekend. The meet for members and sponsors was a huge hit with more than 1500 people attending. FULL STORY – PAGE 27.
Possible solution
By Justin Fris
F
EDERAL Member for Leichhardt Warren Entsch has offered some logic regarding the current ‘backpacker tax’ debate in federal parliament. Under the proposed changes, backpackers who come to Australia on a working holiday visa would be required to pay 32 per cent of every dollar they earn in tax. Mr Entsch – along with several other MP’s throughout the chamber – have raised concerns
that such a move could seriously impact tourism in Northern Australia. “When we first started talking about the ‘backpacker tax’, I had some reservations but I understood the arguments behind it and what we were trying to achieve,” he said. “Since then, I’ve spoken to people like Joe Moro from the Mareeba District Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, as well as individual farmers, a number of operators in the tourism industry and the Restaurant and Caterers Association.
“In their view, the tax is going to be a real disincentive to young people coming here for a working holiday and will diminish the available workforce in Northern Australia.” Mr Entsch believes that backpackers deserve a decent tax rate – and direct payment of superannuation to the employee could achieve this. “Why don’t we look at some way in which the nine per cent superannuation can be paid out directly to the employee as part of their salary, to significantly reduce the tax impost,” he said. “Instead of backpackers paying tax at the rate
of 32 per cent from the first dollar they earn, which is what is proposed, we could reduce that to say 27 per cent – which is more reasonable. “The employer would then pay the employee their superannuation directly, which would essentially drop their tax rate to 18 per cent. “This way, backpackers are still contributing from the first dollar they earn, but it brings the tax down to an acceptable level. It’s less complicated for the employer as they have to pay superannuation.” CONTINUED PAGE 3
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