MA: Leave the credit alone
April 16, 2012
MEDICINES Australia is urging the
Government to leave the R&D tax
credit which it introduced last year,
alone, following reports that the
Government may want to make
changes to the scheme.
Speaking in the wake of the
rumours, Medicines Australia CE, Dr
Brendan Shaw said that winding
back the tax credit would
discourage investment in Australia
and would result in the loss of high
value research jobs.
“Scaling back the R&D tax credit
would be extremely damaging to
R&D investment in Australia,” said
Shaw.
“Such a move would put a brake
on investment at the very time
when policy makers are trying to
stimulate growth.
“It would effectively add up to 10
per cent to the cost of investing in
Australian R&D and would put at
risk hundreds of high-skill, highwage
research jobs,” he added.
Currently, Australia attracts $1
billion per annum in
pharmaceutical R&D investment.
The Government, according to
Medicines Australia, would risk
losing large chunks of this
investment if the tax credit were to
be reduced, with some companies
bound to withdraw their research
interests from the nation
altogether.
Adding further fuel to the
argument, Shaw said that due to
the relatively new nature of the tax
credit, with it only having been
introduced less than a year ago, not
enough time has elapsed to be able
to see its benefits in terms of
investment.
“The Government went through
an extensive consultative process in
developing the tax credit system to
replace the previous tax
concession, which was inefficient
and ineffective,” Shaw said.
“To do a U-turn on such an
important policy measure after less
than a year would send quite the
wrong signal to the investment
community.
“It would severely undermine
business confidence, send
investment offshore and threaten
Australian jobs,” he added.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 16 Apr 12To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 16 Apr 12
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