Small business govt help timely

The decision to make small business centre stage of the federal budget comes at a time when a third of firms are unhappy with the support they get.

The Abbott government can expect a slap on the back from the small business community for putting firms front and centre of the May budget.

Promised tax cuts, other concessions and a more favourable tax regime for employee share schemes come at a time when a new survey shows a third of small firms are not happy with the support they get from the federal government.

Business software provider MYOB boss Tim Reed says while this proportion of dissatisfied small and medium sized entrepreneurs has been worse in the past decade, they will appreciate being the centrepiece of the budget.

"For many years small business has felt they have been the missing voice in fiscal and economic conversations," he told AAP.

The results of MYOB's latest six-monthly business monitor also showed that just over a third of SMEs are unhappy with the support they get from their state governments.

However, 35 per cent of NSW SMEs have been satisfied with the Baird coalition government in the past six months compared with 26 per cent that are unhappy.

Mr Reed said the higher level of satisfaction in NSW was an outlier to national trends of other states.

Businesses in South Australia (50 per cent) and Western Australia (40 per cent) were least satisfied with their governments.

However, SMEs felt that the Liberal Party was best placed to manage the national economy, scoring 37 per cent, while only 18 per cent backed Labor.

The survey found a third of small businesses expect their revenue to grow in the next 12 months.

In the past year, almost a quarter saw an increase in revenue, the highest level since September 2011, while 43 per cent recorded stable income.


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Source: AAP


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