Amid another covid outbreak in NSW, we may have forgotten that the state budget was handed down by NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet on Tuesday 22 June. We may also have forgotten because it just wasn’t that exciting – at least not for small and medium businesses.

The highlights include:

business + infrastructure spending

Whilst there were some big announcements on infrastructure spending over the coming years and some investments in health and families, there is very little relief or ongoing support coming for business owners. The short-lived ‘Dine & Discover’ program aimed at helping the hospitality industry will still  end on 31 July 2021, with nothing announced to take its place.

payroll tax

No new announcements were made to the thresholds for payroll tax and last year’s changes have been retained. The payroll tax threshold will stay at $1.2 million with a tax rate of 4.85% levied against payroll costs that exceed this threshold.

SME fees and charges rebates

For businesses that do not pay payroll tax, they will continue to receive the previously announced $1,500 digital vouchers to go toward the cost of NSW government fees and charges, such as licensing costs.

western Sydney investment

Sydney’s next CBD,  [called Bradfield] has been allocated over $1 billion to establish the city centre’s construction site with another $138 million to be spent on a high-tech facility to house equipment for research institutions. There will also be $270 million spent on major road upgrades in greater western Sydney region.

regional wins

Between bushfires, floods, covid and now a mouse plague destroying regional NSW, there may be some relief coming with a decent amount of spending aimed at helping and investing in greater NSW.

rebuilding regional communities

The NSW government will spend $10 billion on programs to repair and rebuild the regions including $150 million to be spent combating the mouse plague and $460 million for upgrading regional jobs precincts such as racecourses to increase employment numbers.

regional seniors’ travel card

Transport options are greatly limited in regional areas and to help with this, eligible seniors living in regional NSW with continue to receive $250 each year [to puttowards fuel, taxis or trains] for another two years.

NSW Rural Fire Services

The government has committed to meeting the recommendations outlined in the NSW Bushfire inquiry and will be spending $268 million upgrading trucks and drones, and to fit out two new Black Hawk Helicopters.

stamp duty and home buyers

Unsurprisingly the state budget is currently in deficit, however, the expectation is for the state to return to surplus within the next three years, with one of the big drivers for this being revenue generated from stamp duty on property transactions. The booming property market is giving the NSW budget a much-needed boost; however, it comes at a great cost to homeowners and property investors, with no relief in sight. There was no mention of any changes to stamp duty in the budget and it will continue to be an issue that is keeping many young families out of the property market in NSW.

families

The NSW government has committed to supporting families and women through spending on additional leave for mothers who give birth to a pre-term baby as well as bereavement leave for miscarriages or stillbirths for employees in the public sector. There is also $60 million to be spent over two years for domestic violence frontline services.

Parents will also continue to benefit from the free pre-school scheme which has been extended for those families with children who attend community preschools.

other spending

The NSW Government also announced spending in these areas:

health

$27 billion to be spent on health including ambulance services, hospital security and child and adolescent mental health services.

education

$20 billion to be spent to rewrite the school curriculum and to invest in TAFE infrastructure and subsidised courses.

sport

$200 million to be spent on new community sporting facilities and $43.9 million for $100 Learn to Swim vouchers

transport

$490 million to be spent encouraging the uptake of electric cars.

As always the devil is in the detail. If you would like to find out more about what the budget really means for you and your business give us a call on 1300BDEPOT or email us at oneplace@businessdepot.com.au to speak to a business advisor.