Tax - The New Spectator Sport?

Written on the 4 September 2014

Who would have thought that the passage of legislation through the Senate would become a spectator sport?  The highly anticipated new composition of Senators sat for the first time in July with the Government’s Budget reforms before them.

The key item of legislation to actually pass the Senate was the Carbon Tax repeal.  The legislation contains measures to strengthen the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCCs) position to pursue businesses that do not pass on savings from the carbon tax repeal.   Specifically, the ACCC will now require electricity and natural gas retailers and importers of bulk synthetic greenhouse gases to prove their efforts to pass on cost savings to customers.

The Government’s push to remove the mining tax and the myriad of spending measures associated with it – the loss carry back rules for companies, the slowing of the superannuation guarantee increase, the $5,000 instant motor vehicle deduction for small business, and the generous instant asset write off threshold also for small business – failed.  So to did the legislation to encourage the privatisation of State assets (known as asset recycling).

With some of the budget measures retrospectively applied to the 2013/2014 income year, it will be interesting to see what happens form here as many of the measures may significantly affect the tax outcomes for business.  We’ll keep you posted.