ATO to refer 150,000 medium, small businesses to credit reporting agencies by June, raising recession fears with extremely weak economy – www.cairnsnews.org

ATO to refer 150,000 medium, small businesses to credit reporting agencies by June, raising recession fears with extremely weak economy – www.cairnsnews.org
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The Australian Tax Office is referring struggling taxpayers to credit reporting agencies for failure to pay alleged taxation debts.

The ATO has no qualms whatsoever in bankrupting struggling businesses if they are unable to pay some of the world’s highest tax rates. Or does this bureaucratic behemoth think twice about referring cash-starved businesses to credit reporting agencies which has a double whammy effect of preventing the business from borrowing from a bank thus starving the business of materials or paying wages. The ATO said it would refer between 100,000 to 150,000 medium and small businesses before June this year.

The building and construction industry is a case in point. Extreme, UN-driven environmental sustainability and anti-discrimination policies have forced up the cost of building a three bedroom house by at least 10 per cent according to Lindsay Partridge, managing director of ASX-listed Brickworks in Sydney.

The NSW government introduced sustainable building legislation in October 2023 targeting net-zero emissions by 2050, and, from January 2024, all new homes in Victoria will be banned from connecting to gas, requiring electric cooktops, heaters and water heaters instead.

“Costs were coming back to more reasonable levels, and then the [NSW] government changed the legislation regarding designs of houses and introduced a series of legislation on making them more sustainable. It has probably added $30,000 to $50,000 in costs to a house, which would be 10 per cent, at least,” Partridge said.

Queensland Labor on May 1, 2023 changed building design rules requiring wheelchair access and widened doors, adding up to $50,000 to a new home. New environmental sustainability conditions also pushed up home construction costs.

In mid-December, Australia became the first country in the world to ban engineered stone following a surge in workers developing the lung disease silicosis. The marble-like product is common in kitchen benches and bathroom vanities.

Partridge said the cost of switching to an alternative when building a new home or renovating would add substantially to construction costs.

Combined with a nine month wait for a building permit, pressure from the ATO has seen building companies and tradesmen fold up like never before.

Construction companies seeking insolvency have risen so far this year to 2181, up from 1615 a year ago which is a damning indictment on Labor’s claim it will build thousands of homes for the struggling market.

There will only be a handful of builders left to build urgently needed homes while the ALP opens the tap for tens of thousands of immigrants to fly into the country There will be 500,000 migrants entering the country by the end of the year.

Similar to America where the Texas border is being overrun with tens of thousands of illegal immigrants of unknown origin at least Australia supposedly knows the origin of the thousands of military-aged men legally coming in by air.

Commo John’s National Strike comes to mind very quickly as a solution.

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