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Latrobe Residents Hit Hard By Fire Services Levy HikeThe Nationals Member for Morwell Russell Northe has backed calls for the Brumby Government to stop punishing country Victorians with yet another increase in the Fire Services Levy (FSL). By Russell Northe - 20th August 2009 - Back to News Speaking today in State Parliament, Mr Northe condemned the Brumby Government’s decision to hit Latrobe Valley residents, struggling to rebuild after this year’s horrific bushfires, with yet another tax.
"The Fire Services Levy, which is essentially a tax on insurance premiums, will increase from 68 per cent to 84 per cent for businesses and jump from 26 per cent to 31 per cent for householders living outside of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade district," Mr Northe said.
"At the same time, the FSL will actually decrease in metropolitan areas of Victoria.
"Country Victorians are being unfairly and unjustifiably punished because of this year’s bushfires and the effort that was mounted to fight them."
A commercial building in the country Victoria with an insurance premium of $1000 will now pay:
Premium $1,000.00 Terrorism Levy $ 20.40 Fire Services Levy (84%) $ 857.14 GST (10%) $ 187.75 Stamp Duty (10%) $ 206.53
Total Cost $2,271.82
Mr Northe said a household premium of $1000 would actually cost $1,585.10 and on farm premiums would be over $2200.
"While the Victorian Liberal Nationals Coalition agrees that the CFA must be adequately funded, it is clear that the system as it stands is unjust and unreasonable," he said.
"In government we will review the existing Fire Services Levy and implement a fairer system that provides adequate funding for state fire services.
"The current levy is a strong disincentive to insure against fire, with evidence from the recent bushfires suggesting that approximately 30 per cent of the houses lost were not insured.
"There are other fairer models that fund fire services in other states which more evenly distribute the cost of funding fire services.
"The Brumby Labor Government refuses to acknowledge the Fire Services Levy is a tax, when it clearly is, and the Premier’s inaction demonstrates his complete disregard for country Victorians," Mr Northe said.
Source: http://gippsland.com/ Published by: news@gippsland.com
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