Fire Services Levy fury

Source: Bill Sykes media release - 9 Jan 09

Nationals Member for Benalla, Bill Sykes has called for increased lobbying of the Brumby Government to introduce a more sensible system for the collection of revenue to fund the state’s fire services.

“It is of great concern that as of January 2009 the Fire Services Levy (FSL) will increase from 58 per cent to 63 per cent,” Bill Sykes said.

The FSL pays about 80 per cent of the cost of running the Country Fire Authority and the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, however four years ago the levy was 40 per cent. The implications of the increase means government taxes will increase an insurance premium by a massive 112 per cent.

Next year, those insuring a commercial building in country Victoria will pay for example:

Insurance premium $1,000.00
Terrorism Levy $ 20.00
Fire Services Levy (63%) $ 642.85
GST $ 166.33
Stamp Duty (10%) $ 182.96
Total Cost $2,012.14

Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and the ACT have all abandoned premium based levies because many households and businesses escape their obligations by way of underinsuring or not insuring at all.

“The current system penalises people who insure adequately. Our policy is for there to be a property based levy, which works very well in Western Australia,” Bill Sykes said.

In Western Australia, every property shares the cost of fire protection with the net result of reduced costs to each individual; surely a more equitable approach than the Victorian system.

“I have been approached by a number of people throughout the electorate who have expressed their concern over the way the Brumby Government collects funding for our fire services,” Bill Sykes said. “We need to work hard to ensure a fairer system for this very important service.”

Bill Sykes said many believed the State Government was double or even triple-dipping with these taxes.

As the fire season deepens it is timely to re-examine this issue.

“Our volunteer fire fighters do an extraordinary job and give a lot of their time and effort to protect life and property. They deserve our full support and adequate funding,” Bill Sykes said.