At a glance
Each year, CPA Australia makes a range of recommendations to the Australian Government ahead of the Federal Budget. Business investment and international lead Gavan Ord highlights some of the key issues among the 39 outlined in this year’s pre-budget submission.
Tax system unsustainable
“We rely too much on personal income taxes and corporate tax. As the population ages, the number of people actually paying income tax reduces, and, at the same time, the number of people taking money from the system through welfare and healthcare costs increases.
“There is a long-term issue about the sustainability of our tax system, and we really need to start addressing that not only to try to improve productivity in the economy, but also to try to make the tax base sustainable for the future. We’re really concerned about the long-term viability of our tax system.”
Skills shortages measures
“Government is pursuing two key strategies. The one that is getting the most publicity is skilled migration, and the other one is offering things like fee-free TAFE places in areas of shortage.
“There are two strategies – the shorter term is to bring people in, and the longer term is to increase the supply of skilled people into the workforce.
“I think both strategies are correct, but on the education side the government could do more to encourage people to undertake university studies in areas of shortage like accounting. That could be, for example, reducing the cost of courses to study accounting.”
Professional advice for NFPs
“We need to help charities and not-for-profits build their capability to deliver their services.
Part of that is through encouraging them to seek professional advice.
“That professional advice could be used to maybe improve how they run their organisation. It could be used to help them access new sources of funds, new donors, apply for grants, and it could be used to restructure or structure how they attract volunteers.
“The other thing they need to look at is the IT or the digital skills of not-for-profits.
There could be efficiencies in delivery of services if those not-for-profits and charities become more digitally savvy.
“These are very small enterprises, and the more that government could help build those IT digital skills, the more likely these smaller not-for-profits and charities can at least be successful or deliver what the community needs.”
