Fruit growers blast payroll tax grab

Fruit Growers Tasmania wants to see the state’s payroll tax rate for the agricultural industry align with regional Victoria.

In Tasmania the payroll tax rate for agriculture is 6.1 per cent, compared to Victoria’s 1.2 per cent.

Fruit Growers Tasmania CEO Peter Cornish said that the industry pays about $10 million in state payroll tax each year, equivalent to around $1000 for each worker.

“For some of our fruit growers, payroll tax is the third highest cost they face after wages and superannuation,” Mr Cornish said.

“And it’s the Tasmanian government’s decision to levy the third-largest cost on those growers.”

Mr Cornish said regional Victoria was a direct competitor to Tasmania due to having the same fruit growing season.

“Regional Victoria is the key competitor to Tasmania’s fruit industry – they grow in the same season as Tasmanian growers.

“The Victorian Government supports their growers through a lower rate of payroll tax for the regions.

“A large Tasmanian grower with a payroll of $10 million will pay over $500,000 in Tasmanian payroll tax compared to the $110,000 their regional Victorian counterpart pays – almost 5 times as much.”

With the most recent state budget, which was not passed through parliament due to the snap election, indicating that net debt was forecasted to reach almost 10 billion by 2027-28, Mr Cornish said that taxes were not the way to improve government finances.

“The Tasmanian fruit industry is one of those private sector industries that pays the bills, invests in machinery, equipment, services and trees and employs thousands of people.

“It’s also one of Tasmania’s comparative advantages because we grow exceptional fruit, but it’s expensive to grow here, more expensive than mainland Australia.”

Berried in Tas Managing Director Richard Winspear said payroll tax was a significant impost on his business.

“Given that labour is such a large cost for production for horticulture in the state, we’re significantly negatively impacted by having a much higher payroll tax than states that are in direct competition with us,” Mr Winspear said.

“We’ve spoken at length to other fruit growers about it and we are urging the political parties to look at it.

“But so far it’s fallen on deaf ears.

“Even if it were just a reduction for the seasonal workforce that comes down and picks our fruits, that would be enough.”