Thursday, 5 June 2008 
 
 
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (the Institute) welcomes the South Australian State Budget delivered today. 
 
Mark Jones, South Australia General Manager for the Institute said, “The areas of payroll tax and land tax have significant impacts on taxpayers and the business community in South Australia.”  
 
“We are pleased to see that the 2008-2009 State Budget delivered today seeks to address issues impacting business,” he explained.  
 
The Institute supports uniformity of payroll tax legislation.  
 
“We are pleased to see the government move towards a more uniformed approach and recommend further moves to harmonise with legislation in other states. From July 2008 in South Australia, payroll tax will reduce to five per cent; this will reduce further to 4.95 per cent in July 2009. This is certainly a step in the right direction,” said Mr Jones. 
 
“Just as pleasing is the increase to the threshold to $600,000 by July 2009. This makes South Australia highly competitive compared to its interstate counterparts,” he added. 
 
During 2007-2008 land tax remained high, despite minor cuts in land tax announced in the previous Budget.  
 
The South Australian land tax rates remains higher, at every threshold compared to other states. This means South Australian business continues to struggle to be competitive.  
 
“At the $1M land value, the South Australian land tax rate was more than three times that of Victoria and more than double of Western Australia,” said Mr Jones. 
 
The Institute will be looking for positive changes around land tax in next year’s Budget as it believes along with stamp duties this is the next area the government needs to focus on to make business even more competitive. 
 
“It is pleasing to see that the 2008-2009 Budget has delivered to the business community, through revisions to payroll tax rates and threshold. This will foster a competitive market for businesses in South Australia,” he said.