Carr slams R & D as a rort
11-February-2010
Over 7000 users of the Governments current research and development tax concession will be surprised to discover the Government labels them as rorters.
The Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, wants to restrict the scheme because he says it is subject to bogus claims and rorts.
Instead of gutting the current tax concession the Government should investigate claims it believes are bogus, instead of pushing ahead with changes foreshadowed in the Tax Laws Amendment (Research and Development) Exposure Bill.
The industry claims up to half of those currently claiming the tax concession could be excluded under the proposed regime and contradicts the Government’s stated objective of supporting innovation and increasing productivity.
Minister Carr claimed in Senate Estimates yesterday to rely on Treasury modelling which he and his Department have admitted they have not seen.
Minister Carr is beholden to the bean-counters in Treasury who appear to have no regard for promoting research and development incentives. But, Treasury has drafted the Bill and not undertaken any modelling to determine how many current users of the scheme would be excluded.
This makes a mockery of Government claims that the proposed changes to the research and development scheme would be revenue neutral. According to industry the changes are likely to result in net savings of well in excess of $500 million.
Instead of spin about innovation and productivity the Government needs to act to support Australian research and development in a practical way, a starting point is to bin the Tax Laws Amendment (Research and Development) Exposure Bill.