Dieci e Mezo placed into liquidation

What a brilliant call about payroll tax, the ACT for many years had one of the highest thresholds to start actually paying it – for all wages bills above $1.5 million over the whole company (not just per business) but then one of the highest percentages (6.85%)….I understand they have just changed the limits (1.75m now), but it must still be such a genuine to disadvantage to employ that extra staff member who might then cost you extra in tax…(NSW is 5.45% on $700K, VIC is 4.90% on $550K)

My concern is the lack of staff consultation, apparently the first time the staff heard the company was in trouble was on the front page of the Canberra Times.

neanderthalsis said :

Holden Caulfield said :

Irrespective of Fiona Wright’s apparent payroll tax aversion,

Any right (or Wright) thinking person should have an aversion to payroll tax. A tax on employing people is even more stupid than stamp duty on property purchases.

There’s an election in a few days, are you running?

Whether the tax is good or bad, the consequences of not playing ball are clear to see.

neanderthalsis said :

Any right (or Wright) thinking person should have an aversion to payroll tax. A tax on employing people is even more stupid than stamp duty on property purchases.

+1

Where’s the incentive to grow a business and employ even more people when you’re just going to have to stump up a wad of cash (payroll tax) once you hit a certain threshhold?

Payroll tax is incredibly inefficient and stifles business growth.

It also basically punishes workers since business simply pass on this cost to labour through effective lower wages.

If the government insists on collecting this tax they should be up-front and call it a ‘because-we-can-tax’ or perhaps a ‘we-want-some-of-your-profit-tax’.

Interesting is this quote from a CPA Australia/KPMG Economic Analysis of the Impacts of Using GST to Reform Taxes (September 2011)… “payroll tax in its current form is the most inefficient of all of the taxes on labour that are considered in this study”. In their study, they note that GST was eventually meant to replace innefficient taxes such as payroll tax… but 12 years down the line there is no sign of this happening. http://www.cpaaustralia.com.au/cps/rde/xbcr/cpa-site/kpmg-econtech-final.pdf

Also of interest, have a read of this commentary by South Australian Accountant/Financial Adviser Tony Martin… http://www.advantageone.com.au/our-opinion/payroll-tax-a-tax-on-economic-growth-incentive.html . He sums it up well where he says “Many businesses resist employing extra staff to avoid being pushed over the threshold or to reduce their payroll tax. This practice is keeping some businesses inefficiently small. This is bad for the business and bad for economic growth.”

Mr Evil said :

Maybe Fiona can go into journalism as a career change.

Heh. There is a distinct family pattern emerging.

Holden Caulfield said :

Irrespective of Fiona Wright’s apparent payroll tax aversion,

Any right (or Wright) thinking person should have an aversion to payroll tax. A tax on employing people is even more stupid than stamp duty on property purchases.

Maybe Fiona can go into journalism as a career change.

We had dinner for my wife’s 40th here, I found the food fantastic and the staff very friendly.

It’s open tonight if you’d like one last meal.

Irrespective of Fiona Wright’s apparent payroll tax aversion, it’s not a surprise to see Dieci e Mezzo close. Although the reasons are not what I expected. I understand it does a good trade during weekday lunches, but at night it is rarely full. Great for when you want to get a nice meal on a whim without a booking, but not so great for ongoing business I would have thought.

Anyway, I’ve enjoyed the food on each of the 5–6 times I’ve eaten there in recent years and I’ll also miss it when it’s gone.