Australia’s SMBs believe company tax cuts to be the most important issue in the upcoming federal election, a new Telstra survey has found.
The Telstra survey, conducted over the past fortnight of the state and territory winners and finalists of the 2010 Telstra Business Awards, found that 41 percent of SMBs nominated tax relief as the most important action the federal government could take to better demonstrate its support of the SMB sector. The unsurprising result mirrors the findings of another recent survey that positioned tax as the main priority for SMBs in the upcoming election.
The Telstra survey also found that 19 percent of SMBs called for a dedicated Minister for Small Business with Federal Cabinet status, while 14 percent favoured cutting red tape and compliance costs and nine percent nominated changing workplace laws to make it easier for SMEs to dismiss employees.
The majority of business owners surveyed were optimistic about business conditions in the coming year, with almost two-thirds believing conditions will be better and only five percent predicting they will be worse. A further 11 percent said trading in the year ahead would depend on the election outcome.
In regard to climate change, 57 percent of those surveyed said they were slightly concerned or unconcerned when asked about the commercial impact government action on climate change may have on their business.