AusBiotech has made a submission to the Federal Government’s review making the case for improved tax settings to support Australia’s innovation ecosystem in order for innovative industries, including biotechnology, to underpin the economy as the mining boom fades.
The AusBiotech submission argues for a regime that supports innovation throughout its life cycle, from basic research to commercialisation, and provides support in areas of market failure as well as internationally competitive settings.
Preserving the R&D Tax Incentive in-tact is paramount and ought to be complemented with preferential tax treatment of profit from locally-developed and worked intellectual property (IP), via the Australian Innovation & Manufacturing (AIM) Incentive, to incentivise the retention of economic benefits from innovation on-shore.
The submission also argues for the introduction of fiscal incentives for investors in pre-revenue and start-up companies, to encourage ‘patient’ venture capital; and further tweaks to Employee Share Schemes (ESS) to meet the policy intent of recent repairs.
The AusBiotech submission can be found at its website.
The Government says it will use the submissions to this review to incorporate ideas into a Green (options) Paper, which it intends to publish in the second half of 2015. Comment will be sought on the Green Paper before the Government sets out its reform proposals in a White Paper it intends to take to the next Election.
To view the full Federal Government Discussion Paper or for more information on the review visit the ‘better tax’ website.