We all understand that budgets are an exercise in predicting the future. Given what has happened in 2020, gazing into the crystal ball and extracting something reliable is fraught with difficulty.
Extensions to the tax rate thresholds will give millions of taxpayers on lower incomes a much-needed boost after a very challenging year. The temporary full expensing of capital assets sets a new mark. Yet this benefit will be limited to those businesses that are back operating at a good capacity and do have enough capital to buy these assets. The willingness of banks to lend for this purpose will be critical.
Many businesses will seek to use the temporary loss carry-back measures that allow companies with turnover of up to $5 billion to offset losses against previous profits on which tax has been paid. Meanwhile, increasing the small business entity threshold from $10 million to $50 million is a significant and unexpected measure that will be beneficial to about 20,000 businesses.
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