Mixecl reception for Whitlam proposals

Press, 19 November 1977, Page 8

Mixecl reception for Whitlam proposals

NZPA Sydney The Australian Labour Party’s election plan to scrap payroll tax and in-come-tax cuts scheduled to; come into effect next February was greeted with a mixed reception in the Sydney business community yesterday — but with a tinge of apprehension by supporters. The election gamble, unveiled by the party leader Mr Gough Whitlam, in readiness for the December 10 poll, centres on a fiscal trade-off — the end of payroll tax in return for the; surrender of promised in-come-tax cuts. The twin deal, the core of Labour’s formula for economic recovery, will be backed by an attack on unemployment by the in-

troduction of an sAust49.3P a we.ek unemployment subsidy scheme and an sAustsoo programme to increase spending on capital works and create more jobs. Responding to the Labour election platform, most commercial sections agreed that the payroll plan was sound economic policy that should create jobs. A spokesman for the A.N.Z. Bank said: “The pay roll tax plan would be ex tremely welcome from a company’s point of view Bu f against that you have to measure the impact on individuals who would have received the income-tax benefits. "As an economic move it has some merit because the present lax system penalises

people, and getting people employed is really what the whole country wants and . the economy needs." Department stores across th< nation predicted that th« end of the payroll tax would create thousands of new jobs. Mr lan Spicer, secretary of the Victorian Employers’ Federation, said: "Payroll tux is the most inequitable tax operating in Australia, and acts as a disincentive tn employment at a time when employment opportunities should be encouraged." But the Australian Bankers Research Directorate contended that the biggest problem facing the community was to increase consumer spending.