Local business owners are working to stay afloat as costs rise and customers are tightening their spending due to the cost-of-living crisis.
A new report from leading credit agency illion shows the number of small businesses at risk of collapse in Australia has jumped by 20 per cent in a year, with a warning that hundreds of thousands of businesses are struggling to pay their bills on time.
Carlo De Michele, who owns Farm Fresh Market in Murray Bridge with his wife Tracy, tells us it is certainly a tough balancing act.
“Costs like electricity, fuel, wages, and … if you haven’t got your finger on the pulse, you can quickly go downhill and quickly get in trouble and then you will have to close. I mean, that’s what’s happening out there,” Carlo De Michele told ARN’s Adam Connelly and Jennie Lenman this morning.
He said he has recently let go six staff as the slower winter months approach and says he agrees with a call from the SA Business Chamber to provide payroll tax relief in the upcoming SA Budget as it costs him up to $15,000 per quarter.
“Payroll tax relief would probably mean for me that I could probably keep a couple more people on, make my job a lot easier. There’s small businesses, people that are working 80-100 hours a week. There’s no incentive for us, we’re better off being just a worker then not having a business, it’s getting harder and harder,” he said.
Andrew Kay, Chief Executive Officer of the South Australian Business Chamber, said the main concern this quarter is the ongoing cost of doing business, with profitability, government policies, and staff and skills shortages also factors.
“Revenue metrics show economic indicators such as average selling price, orders received and export sales are all down, while cost metrics such as wages, materials and overheads are still on the incline, as inflation remains sticky,” Andrew Kay said in a statement.
“These results reinforce why we have advocated for the government to consider payroll tax reform and provide support to help drive productivity and encourage business growth in the upcoming State Budget.”
Hear Carlo De Michele’s full chat with ARN’s Jennie Lenman and Adam Connelly via the audio play window below:
