The Business Council of Australia will press the Morrison government to increase unemployment benefits after warning the JobKeeper wage subsidy must end over time,allowing some companies to fail.
While the industry group still wants a cut in the company tax rate over the long term,it has paused that call in favour of a 20 per cent investment allowance in the hope of gaining wider political support for rapid action.
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BCA president Tim Reed said the group's budget submission,to be released on Saturday,was about moving away from emergency measures to modernise the economy around low-carbon industry,digital services,open trade and more research.
"We don't need just an investment hit for one year – we need a sustained lift in investment across the nation,"said Mr Reed,the former chief executive of services company MYOB.
"Doing something that's temporary isn't going to solve that long-term problem. We think it's needed more now than ever,but it was needed before COVID as well."
The allowance would work as an additional tax deduction for new investment and would reduce the final cost of buying new machinery,equipment or intangible assets.