South Australian Premier Steven Marshall has announced an additional $650m of stimulus to buffer the state economy from the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The bulk of the package includes significant payroll and land tax relief for thousands of businesses, as well as two new funds to support jobs. Payroll tax relief is anticipated to provide approximately $60m in saving to business, while land tax relief will provide an additional $13m in savings.

Coming on top of the $350m package announced on 11 March, the South Australian Government has committed $1b in relief for businesses and individuals.

Business support

• Waiver of liquor licence fees for 2020-21 for hotels, restaurants, cafes and clubs forced to close as a result of new social distancing
• Cafes, restaurants, small bars and local clubs will be able to temporarily sell takeaway liquor.
• $300m Business and Jobs Support Fund to support individual businesses and industry sectors directly affected by coronavirus.
• $250m Community and Jobs Fund to support community organisations, sporting, arts and recreational bodies, non-profit organisations as well as some industry sectors whose operations have been impacted by the coronavirus and will include:
  • Retraining for South Australians seeking new skills and employment.
  • Assistance for organisations to meet the increased demand for services including emergency relief.

Payroll tax

• Businesses with an annual Australian grouped payroll of up to $4m to receive a six-month waiver on payroll tax (between April to September). No application is required and RevenueSA will notify these businesses through RevenueSA Online. An online form will be made available for businesses not liable for payroll tax in 2018-19.
• Businesses with an annual Australian grouped payroll above $4m will be able to defer payroll tax payments for 6 months on demonstration of significant impacts on cash flow from coronavirus. Eligible businesses will have payments deferred to October 2020. An online application is being developed to apply for the payroll tax deferral.
• Eligible businesses must still lodge monthly payroll returns, however, no payment needs to be made.

Land tax

• Businesses and individuals paying land tax quarterly in 2019-2020 will be able to defer payment of third and fourth quarter instalments for up to six months. Details on how the deferral will be administered will be included in land tax notices of assessment. There is no application process. The deferral does not relate to outstanding arrears.
• The existing 2020-21 Land Tax Transition Fund relief will be increased from 50% to 100% based on existing relief criteria guidelines. 
• To put this in context, the SA Government recently brought in sweeping changes to the land tax system which required related entities to aggregate their landholdings, resulting in much higher land tax liabilities starting in the 2020-21 land tax year. After considerable lobbying from the property sector, increases due to aggregation were capped at a 50% for increases up to $102,500. This measure will mean no increase in land tax due to aggregation will be payable for increases between $2,500 and $102,500.

Households and individuals

• A one-off $500 payment for households and individuals who are receiving the Centrelink JobSeeker Payment
• Fast-tracking the 2020-21 ‘Cost of Living Concession’ to assist those who are unemployed or lose their jobs as a result of the coronavirus restrictions.
• Access to accrued leave for public sector workforce if a public servant has a family member lose their job and are moved onto Commonwealth benefits.

Shovel-ready infrastructure maintenance package

On 11 March, the Premier announced a $350m construction-focused package to inject stimulus into the economy, most of which is expected to be spent in the following 12 months. Stimulus includes:

• $22m in “eco-tourism” initiatives.
• $15m boost regional health projects.
• $5m for regional aged-care facilities and other upgrades across the state