Australian sole traders are hoping Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will make good on his promise in April to put small businesses “front and centre” in this year’s federal budget in the form of tax relief.
In a survey of 500 sole traders, conducted by accounting platform Hnry in March the lead-up to the 2024 federal budget, tax relief took the top three spots on the list of measures these small business owners would most like to see in the budget papers.
The Hnry Sole Trader Pulse is the only nationwide survey of independent earners in Australia and includes contractors, consultants, freelancers, gig economy workers and tradies.
The survey found tax credits and cuts to boost the economy are high on the wishlist of sole traders and favoured ahead of other forms of support, such as sick or parental leave.
In particular, 74% of the sole traders surveyed were in favour of a 2% tax credit to help ease the administration requirements of being self-employed, while 67% were in favour of lowering the income tax rate for the second bracket.
Around 60% of the business operators surveyed said they were also in favour of reducing the 15% tax on voluntary super contributions.
Among the budget measures that were least favoured by the surveyed businesses were parental leave of up to $600 a week, capped at 1.5% of the earners’ income (42% in favour); a credit for education expenses for parents (48% in favour); and sick leave of up to $600 a week, capped at 1.5% of income (50% in favour).
There are approximately 1.5 million sole traders in Australia, or 10% of the nation’s working population, according to Hnry. Within this group, the average sole trader spends the equivalent of around six hours a week on financial administration.
Albanese promised to make small business a priority when he spoke at the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia (COSBOA) summit in April.
“Helping Australian families and small family businesses with their energy bills was a key priority in last year’s budget,” the Prime Minister said at the summit.
“And as we put together next month’s budget, small businesses and families will again be front and centre in our thinking.”
Despite the preference for tax relief, the sole traders surveyed by Hnry in March also showed relatively higher levels of optimism about the economy, compared to the past two years.
At the same time, this group of small business owners continues to see positives from running their own businesses. Two-thirds of those surveyed (66%) nominated job satisfaction as one of the key benefits of being a sole trader, alongside work-life balance (65%) and wellbeing (58%).
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News Editor
Prior to joining SmartCompany, Eloise was news editor at Books+Publishing, the trade press for the Australian book industry. Eloise has degrees in media and communications, marketing and business management, and political science. You can follow her on Twitter at @ellykeating.
