Tuesday, 1 August 2023

Petitions

Schools payroll tax

Matthew BACH (North-Eastern Metropolitan) presented a petition bearing 4436 signatures:

The Petition of certain citizens of the State of Victoria draws to the attention of the Legislative Council the Government’s intention to impose payroll tax on many independent schools. The new tax was announced without prior consultation and is based on an arbitrary definition of a ‘high fee’ school. According to the Budget these ‘high fee’ schools may include those charging annual fees as low as $7,500 and may take as much as $422 million away from independent schools. Many schools have indicated that they will be forced to cut services, programs or staff to foot the new tax with some indicating they will have to pass the cost directly onto parents. Many parents work incredibly hard and make significant sacrifices to send their children to independent schools and should not be punished by the Government’s deteriorating debt position and budget mismanagement. This new tax will increase cost of living for many families.

The petitioners therefore request that the Legislative Council reject the Government’s proposal to impose payroll tax on many independent schools in order to support and uphold diversity and choice in education in Victoria.

Matthew BACH: Further to that, I move:

That the petition be taken into consideration on the next day of meeting.

Motion agreed to.