THE NEWS WRAP: SMEs have racked up $9.4 billion in ATO debts

Small businesses have racked up $9.4 billion in debts to the Australian Tax Office, new figures show.

The number of people who fail to lodge a tax return stands at four million, while 700,000 set up special repayment plans with the Tax Office in 2009-10. The Tax Office expects 260,000 small businesses to default on these repayment deals.

Symond warns of exit fee ban impact

Federal Government plans to ban mortgage exit fees could negatively impact smaller lenders, according to the founder of Aussie.

John Symond, executive chairman of the home lender, said in a submission to Treasury that a ban on exit fees would drive out many smaller operators as they will not be able to absorb the costs for setting up mortgages. 

Gillard acknowledges strong dollar “burden”

Julia Gillard has admitted that the strong Australian dollar is having an adverse effect on sections of the economy, particularly tourism and manufacturing.

The Prime Minister said that she was “concerned about the burdens that (the high dollar) places on some industries and some parts of the country.” However, she ruled out any government intervention into the strong dollar, which has been above parity with its US counterpart for the past month.

Overnight

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 88.32 points to 12,169.88. The Australian dollar was steady at 101.43 US cents.