The Federal Budget and Regional Australia

Article published by Regional Australia Institute

The Federal Budget 2016-17 has been released with a focus on creating long term growth and jobs. The measures have been described by commentators as modest, with big spending promises or cuts kept to a minimum in this year’s announcement. The Regional Australia Institute (RAI) takes a look at the detail and how the measures stack up for regional Australia.

Headline Initiatives – SME Tax Cuts and Youth Jobs Plan

The most important headline initiatives of the 2016-17 budget for regional economies are the small business tax package and the youth jobs plan.

Regional Australia relies heavily on small businesses for local growth and jobs, making the small business focus of the budget important for regional Australia. We also know that a small proportion of high growth small businesses typically create around 50 per cent of the new jobs in our economy.
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