Hiring should be a win, not a punishment. But in Victoria, when a small or family business takes on that first extra worker, the government treats it as a chance to send another tax bill. Payroll tax kicks in and rewards growth with a penalty.

That is backwards. A tax on jobs is a tax on the people who create them.

Right now, family businesses across Sunshine, Werribee and Sunbury are already stretched thin. Power bills are up. Insurance renewals jumped. Rates keep climbing. The pipeline of work is patchy, and payments come in late. The last thing a small operator needs is a tax that makes hiring the local apprentice or the extra pair of hands too expensive to justify.

This is not about big corporations dodging their share. It is about the local sparky, the plumber, the café and the family workshop being pushed backwards for doing the right thing and creating a job.

The demand is simple. Stop taxing small businesses for hiring.

I will fight to raise the Victorian payroll tax threshold so a family business is not taxed for taking on its first extra staff member. Reward the people who create jobs. Do not punish them.

These are not radical ideas. They are the basics of a fair go for the people who work hard, take a risk and build something:

• Raise the payroll tax threshold so a family business can hire its first extra worker without a new tax bill.
• Give small operators the certainty to plan, employ and grow.
• Cut wasteful spending elsewhere instead of squeezing local employers.
• Treat every job created in Victoria as something to encourage, not something to tax.

Small business is not the government’s cash machine. It is the engine of local jobs, local apprenticeships and local wages.

Sign the petition. Back the businesses that back our community.

Add your name to raise the payroll tax threshold and stop taxing family businesses for hiring. Then share it with a business owner, a tradie or a worker who wants a fair go.