Mr. Barnett questions Premier Gallop on payroll tax rates for small businesses, highlighting an increase since the government took office. Premier Gallop defends the changes, emphasizing increased thresholds and claiming WA now has the best payroll tax system in the nation.

AnsweredQoN 666Legislative Assembly
Asked
27 October 2004
Portfolio
Premier

QuestionView source ↗

As a supplementary question, will the Premier confirm that when he came to government, the lowest rate of payroll tax for small business was 3.65 per cent and that even with this change today it will be 5.5 per cent? Dr G.I. GALLOP

AnswerView source ↗

This Leader of the Opposition never wants to take into account the issues. Several members interjected. Dr G.I. GALLOP: I will tell the Leader of the Opposition another fact. What was the threshold? Several members interjected. Dr G.I. GALLOP: What has happened to the threshold under our Government? It has gone up. I will illustrate the strength of our measures today by a simple reference. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Kalgoorlie to order for the first time. Dr G.I. GALLOP: If we look at the payroll tax that will be paid by Western Australian employers after the introduction of these measures today, we find that this State has the best payroll tax system in the nation. In many categories Western Australian businesses will be paying less payroll tax than those in Queensland, where the overall rate is lower. Because of the complications of the Queensland system, as opposed to the simplicities of our system, businesses in Western Australia will pay a lower rate of tax. No other Government has been able to do to payroll tax what we have done.
Dr G.I. GALLOP replied: This Leader of the Opposition never wants to take into account the issues. Several members interjected. Dr G.I. GALLOP: I will tell the Leader of the Opposition another fact. What was the threshold? Several members interjected. Dr G.I. GALLOP: What has happened to the threshold under our Government? It has gone up. I will illustrate the strength of our measures today by a simple reference. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Kalgoorlie to order for the first time. Dr G.I. GALLOP: If we look at the payroll tax that will be paid by Western Australian employers after the introduction of these measures today, we find that this State has the best payroll tax system in the nation. In many categories Western Australian businesses will be paying less payroll tax than those in Queensland, where the overall rate is lower. Because of the complications of the Queensland system, as opposed to the simplicities of our system, businesses in Western Australia will pay a lower rate of tax. No other Government has been able to do to payroll tax what we have done.
This Leader of the Opposition never wants to take into account the issues. Several members interjected. Dr G.I. GALLOP: I will tell the Leader of the Opposition another fact. What was the threshold? Several members interjected. Dr G.I. GALLOP: What has happened to the threshold under our Government? It has gone up. I will illustrate the strength of our measures today by a simple reference. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Kalgoorlie to order for the first time. Dr G.I. GALLOP: If we look at the payroll tax that will be paid by Western Australian employers after the introduction of these measures today, we find that this State has the best payroll tax system in the nation. In many categories Western Australian businesses will be paying less payroll tax than those in Queensland, where the overall rate is lower. Because of the complications of the Queensland system, as opposed to the simplicities of our system, businesses in Western Australia will pay a lower rate of tax. No other Government has been able to do to payroll tax what we have done.
Several members interjected. Dr G.I. GALLOP: I will tell the Leader of the Opposition another fact. What was the threshold? Several members interjected. Dr G.I. GALLOP: What has happened to the threshold under our Government? It has gone up. I will illustrate the strength of our measures today by a simple reference. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Kalgoorlie to order for the first time. Dr G.I. GALLOP: If we look at the payroll tax that will be paid by Western Australian employers after the introduction of these measures today, we find that this State has the best payroll tax system in the nation. In many categories Western Australian businesses will be paying less payroll tax than those in Queensland, where the overall rate is lower. Because of the complications of the Queensland system, as opposed to the simplicities of our system, businesses in Western Australia will pay a lower rate of tax. No other Government has been able to do to payroll tax what we have done.
Dr G.I. GALLOP: I will tell the Leader of the Opposition another fact. What was the threshold? Several members interjected. Dr G.I. GALLOP: What has happened to the threshold under our Government? It has gone up. I will illustrate the strength of our measures today by a simple reference. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Kalgoorlie to order for the first time. Dr G.I. GALLOP: If we look at the payroll tax that will be paid by Western Australian employers after the introduction of these measures today, we find that this State has the best payroll tax system in the nation. In many categories Western Australian businesses will be paying less payroll tax than those in Queensland, where the overall rate is lower. Because of the complications of the Queensland system, as opposed to the simplicities of our system, businesses in Western Australia will pay a lower rate of tax. No other Government has been able to do to payroll tax what we have done.
Several members interjected. Dr G.I. GALLOP: What has happened to the threshold under our Government? It has gone up. I will illustrate the strength of our measures today by a simple reference. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Kalgoorlie to order for the first time. Dr G.I. GALLOP: If we look at the payroll tax that will be paid by Western Australian employers after the introduction of these measures today, we find that this State has the best payroll tax system in the nation. In many categories Western Australian businesses will be paying less payroll tax than those in Queensland, where the overall rate is lower. Because of the complications of the Queensland system, as opposed to the simplicities of our system, businesses in Western Australia will pay a lower rate of tax. No other Government has been able to do to payroll tax what we have done.
Dr G.I. GALLOP: What has happened to the threshold under our Government? It has gone up. I will illustrate the strength of our measures today by a simple reference. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Kalgoorlie to order for the first time. Dr G.I. GALLOP: If we look at the payroll tax that will be paid by Western Australian employers after the introduction of these measures today, we find that this State has the best payroll tax system in the nation. In many categories Western Australian businesses will be paying less payroll tax than those in Queensland, where the overall rate is lower. Because of the complications of the Queensland system, as opposed to the simplicities of our system, businesses in Western Australia will pay a lower rate of tax. No other Government has been able to do to payroll tax what we have done.
Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: I call the member for Kalgoorlie to order for the first time. Dr G.I. GALLOP: If we look at the payroll tax that will be paid by Western Australian employers after the introduction of these measures today, we find that this State has the best payroll tax system in the nation. In many categories Western Australian businesses will be paying less payroll tax than those in Queensland, where the overall rate is lower. Because of the complications of the Queensland system, as opposed to the simplicities of our system, businesses in Western Australia will pay a lower rate of tax. No other Government has been able to do to payroll tax what we have done.
The SPEAKER: I call the member for Kalgoorlie to order for the first time. Dr G.I. GALLOP: If we look at the payroll tax that will be paid by Western Australian employers after the introduction of these measures today, we find that this State has the best payroll tax system in the nation. In many categories Western Australian businesses will be paying less payroll tax than those in Queensland, where the overall rate is lower. Because of the complications of the Queensland system, as opposed to the simplicities of our system, businesses in Western Australia will pay a lower rate of tax. No other Government has been able to do to payroll tax what we have done.
Dr G.I. GALLOP: If we look at the payroll tax that will be paid by Western Australian employers after the introduction of these measures today, we find that this State has the best payroll tax system in the nation. In many categories Western Australian businesses will be paying less payroll tax than those in Queensland, where the overall rate is lower. Because of the complications of the Queensland system, as opposed to the simplicities of our system, businesses in Western Australia will pay a lower rate of tax. No other Government has been able to do to payroll tax what we have done.

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