Victorian start-ups and micro-businesses not registered for GST are being excluded from the Victorian government’s support payments amid overwhelming pleas for assistance. According to the Council of Small Business Organisations of Australia, rules around the Business Assistance Package were “inequitable and unfair,” especially with businesses not registered for GST but “suffering proportionately” with other GST-registered businesses reported The Age. GST registration is optional for businesses turning over less than $75,000 annually, with many start-ups and micro-businesses not meeting the requirements for financial assistance. “It’s inequitable. It’s treating start-ups, micro-businesses and sole traders in a different category altogether when they are not,” small business council interim chief executive Alexi Boyd told The Age. “It’s just not right to be treating these businesses any differently from any other when they are suffering proportionately, just as much as larger ones,” Boyd added. Last week, the Victorian Minister for Industry Support and Recovery, Martin Pakula, …