payroll tax is levied on business in proportion to the amount paid in wages and salaries. payroll tax was introduced in 1941 as a federal government tax, initially as a way to fund child endowment payments, but this link was removed in the early 1950s. payroll tax was transferred from commonwealth to state control in 1971 and has become a major source of state revenue.
http://www.anz.com/edna/dictionary.asp?action=content&content=taxation We admit to amusement (although the issue isn't intrinsically funny) that a Labor leader should now suddenly call payroll tax a "tax on jobs". It was the Curtin Labor Government, which introduced payroll tax in 1941: the rate was 2½%. The Gorton Government passed this tax to the States in 1971 as a sort of growth tax. It was raised by the States to 4½% in 1973, and then to 5% in 1974. There is not the slightest doubt that payroll tax is partly responsible for today's high unemployment. It's abolition will appeal strongly to Australia's tens of thousands of small businessmen, in particular. http://www.alor.org/Volume13/Vol13No45.htm
