Inquiry into employee share ownership in Australian enterprises
Media release, 7 June 1999

Public Hearing in Canberra, June 10

Dr Brendan Nelson, MP, Chair of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Workplace Relations announced that the committee will hold a public hearing for its inquiry into employee share ownership plans, in Canberra on 10 June 1999.

Representatives of the Australian Taxation Office will be giving evidence.

Dr Nelson said: 'A number of companies have told us that the compliance cost of the taxation legislation discourages small companies from setting up an employee share plan. Larger companies have said that the tax laws are unnecessarily restrictive and complex. They claim these factors deter the growth and uptake of employee share plans.'

'Many share plans operate through trusts. The Ralph Review has proposed that trusts be taxed in a similar way to companies. However, we have been told that this would jeopardise the viability of employee share plans.'

'The Australian Taxation Office, in its submission to the inquiry, raised concerns about protecting Australia's revenue base. Recently a number of aggressively marketed tax minimisation schemes have been developed, based on incentives available for employee share ownership plans.'

'Employee share ownership schemes are widely used in other countries as a means of encouraging national savings. The Committee is keen to examine any barriers to this occurring in Australia.'

Public Hearing
10 June - Canberra
Venue: Parliament House, Committee Room 1R3
9:00-10:00 Australian Taxation Office

Terms of reference
The extent to which employee share ownership schemes have been established in Australian enterprises and the resultant effects on:

(a) workplace relations and productivity in enterprises; and
(b) the economy.

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