There are many benefits of growing up in a small country town. I spent a fair portion of my childhood living in a town of 2500 people in Southern NSW. There is a great sense of community and belonging to these small towns and a sense of pride that is bestowed in each resident to help the town grow, prosper and, in some cases, even survive. There is no better feeling than walking the main street on Saturday morning and picking up the paper, going to the local bakery and ducking into the local IGA to pick up your weekly supplies, and running into friends or neighbours to have a five minute yarn about everything from cattle prices to the local cricket team and everything in-between.
The key to making any regional area grow is via investment and cash flow back into the region to create more jobs and keep these vibrant small towns alive and buzzing. SPA believes that we can contribute.
SPA believe we can contribute to helping small towns prosper with our Salary packaging products which put more money in your pocket week to week.
Whilst many people are aware that Zone A and Zone B allowance is possible to claim to help offset living in a small town or regional area, you can also claim part of your mortgage interest or rent tax fee. You can pay your standard everyday housing expenditure in pre-tax income. By increasing the amount of net pay, you are simply increasing the amount of money that you can put back into the local community, whether it is a dinner out, an extra schooner or three at the pub or rib-eye instead of rump at the butchers. Most regions in Australia work on the 2.7 multiplying effect (with some regional areas as high as 7.1 due to location), so for every dollar spent locally will create another $2.70 back into the community.
To find out more visit our Remote Area Benefit page
Did you know you can claim part of your mortgage interest or rent tax free
So how does this help our local community to grow?
As a result, even if 100 households in a regional town of 2500 people decided to use remote area benefits to increase their pay, it could have a huge effect on the local economy.
Some simple maths – I promise not to lose any of you here!
If Sally Pays rent of $250/week
She will now pay $125 of this pre-tax
Therefore saving about $45 (dependant on tax bracket)
Now if another 100 households save the same amount of $45
We now have $4500 extra in the community each week
If this happens every week for a year we have $234,000 in net income floating around the economy
If this is then multiplied, as per before at 2.7 times (this is known as the multiplier effect of cash flow), we now have $631,800 being spent in the local town
This will therefore mean more jobs, both full time and part-time, a better standard of living and in many cases will help prop up the local small businesses which, in all honesty, are the backbone of the community. This isn’t rocket science. The local chamber of commerce shouldn’t need to spend tens of thousands of dollars on consultants offering a solution, when it’s already there in front of them.
Think about this for a second – Do you employ or manage staff? Would you give them a net pay rise if it cost you nothing?
Summary: A few minutes of your time and your staff could be saving thousands in tax and you could help out your community and help breathe cash flow and life back into the community that you love and live in.
Salary Packaging Australia’s (SPA) Remote Area Benefit product is easy to set up, completely legal, and is saving Australians living in rural and remote towns thousands of dollars a year. Call SPA to speak with a Remote Area Benefit Consultant, and start saving money today.