Queenslanders Need Action on Retrospective Dental Tax

Queenslanders looking for dental treatment are still facing price rises from the retrospective application of payroll tax to dental services.

Saddled with huge, backdated liabilities after the state revenue office announced the tax change last year, dentists warn their only options are to pass on price hikes to their patients or close altogether.

With the Queensland election under way, the Australian Dental Industry Association is calling on politicians to act now, and give Queenslanders relief from price rises.

Chief Executive Officer, Kym De Britt has highlighted the unfairness of the current situation.

“There’s a new ruling that has never been tested and an amnesty for GPs, but dentists get left with paying the new tax back-dated to 2018” Mr De Britt said. “Why dentists face this tax when GPs don’t is inexplicable. No one has given us a reason.”

Mr De Britt said “Without protection from backdated taxes, the cost of dentistry will force many Queenslanders to make heartbreaking choices during a cost-of-living crisis that was hitting hardest in Australia’s remote and regional communities.”

The ADIA has written to both the Queensland Government and Queensland Opposition asking them to grant dentists a tax amnesty, similar to one already granted to general practitioners, to avert a regional crisis that would push more patients into the already stretched public health system.

“Time is running out for Queensland dental clinics. Without immediate action, the risk of these taxes will force clinics to the wall” Mr De Britt said.