"Victorian businesses have called on the State Government not to impose payroll tax and workers' compensation costs on businesses for top-up components of the JobKeeper allowance paid by the Federal Government," Tim Piper, the Victorian Head of the national employer association Ai Group, said today.
"Victoria currently intends to make businesses pay these extra costs despite these funds relating to extra payments that come from the Federal Government.
"There is no acceptable reason to charge businesses these additional State imposts. The JobKeeper payment should not increase the wage-related costs of any employer. The intention is to encourage keeping an employee connected to the business and hopefully working. But the employer should only be required to pay payroll tax and workers' compensation premiums based on the amount the worker is entitled to receive for the hours they are working. Otherwise it is a disincentive to put workers onto Jobkeeper.
"The State Government must give active consideration to removing these costs in the interests of both businesses and workers.
"The State Government has supported very small businesses so it must also step up and help other businesses trying to do the right thing by their workers," Mr Piper said.
