Almost half of all SMEs uninformed about carbon tax implications

Close to half of Australia’s small to medium business operators are uninformed about the carbon tax’s likely impact on their livelihood, according to research by MYOB.

The March 2012 MYOB Business Monitor surveyed 1,043 SMEs to find 42% still did not have a good grasp of how the carbon tax could affect their business.

Conversely, 37% overall understood ‘quite well’, 17% understood “very well”, while 4% didn’t know.

The most uninformed were those in agriculture/forestry/fishing and construction/trade (at 51% each), while the most informed were those in the finance/insurance sector(34%).

“It is deeply concerning that our research has found such a low level of awareness about the carbon tax impact on business amongst SMEs, the engine room of our economy,” says Tim Reed, chief executive of MYOB.

This article first appeared on SmartCompany.