THE Dubbo Chamber of Commerce president has welcomed positive measures for small business in the federal budget.
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Matt Wright said there were no real surprises in the "typical, conservative, pre-election" announcements made by Treasurer Scott Morrison. He described the lowering of the small business tax rate as a step in the right direction.
"Effective immediately, the cut only represents one cent in the dollar initially," Mr Wright said.
"It will be another seven or eight years before business sees the impact of the full cut of 25 cents in the dollar."
Mr Wright said the extension of tax write-offs for new business assets would hopefully encourage spending and some people in the region would benefit from the lifting of the income tax threshold from $80,000 to $87,000.
"It has to be said that there are many people in this part of NSW who don't earn anywhere near that sort of money," Mr Wright said. "As a mortgage broker I have first-hand experience that an annual income of $50,000 is much more realistic.
"In some cases combined family income is less than $80,000."
Mr Wright said small business would be involved in new government incentives to get people under the age of 25 into jobs.
"We are very fortunate in this region because our unemployment rate is pretty low overall," he said.
"But there are a significant number of young people looking for work, particularly in the regional centres surrounding Dubbo. Businesses will be offered financial incentives to give young people a job. The government is talking about grants of between $6000 and $10,000. There have also been changes to the work for the dole program."
Mr Wright said business was still greatly concerned about work penalty rates. "Although the issue of penalty rates is outside budget measures, it is something that we would like the government to address," he said.