United Firefighters’ Union Secretary Peter Marshall has heavily criticised the Victorian government for using volunteer firefighters as cover for a new tax aimed at dealing with the state’s ongoing debt crisis.
The Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund (ESVF) levy is expected charge residential homeowners an extra $63 per year, and $678 for farmers.
In fact, S&P Global Ratings just issued another warning to the state to get its finances under control or risk a further credit rating downgrade—meaning borrowing costs will rise, adding further pressure to overall debt.
“I’m not an economist. But this [levy] comes up on land tax, property tax, COVID tax. This is just another tax,” Marshall told The Epoch Times.
“And you can quote me on this—it’s so offensive. It’s absolutely disgusting that they [Allan government] try to hide behind the goodwill and good name the community has for emergency service workers, in order to raise money to retire debt.
“That is so disingenuous.”
To pass the bill through the upper house, Labor has agreed to reduce the property tax rate for primary production land, which Treasurer Jaclyn Symes said will save the average farmer $3 a week.
The expanded levy was first projected to raise an extra $2.14 billion over the next three financial years, but this concession means it will bring in fewer dollars.
“It’s a desperate government, which has spent too money. It’s all about retiring this government’s debt,” Marshall said.
Premier Jacinta Allan said she understood the “difficult climate conditions” facing farmers with ongoing drought conditions across the state, but has made it clear she wants to push ahead.
“It’s something the State Emergency Services have been calling for, they’re also volunteers,” she said.
“We’ve introduced this change because we want to increase support for our emergency services. To bring funding to the state emergency services for the first time in a similar way to the fire services.”
It was previously known as the Fire Services Property Levy (FSPL).
Volunteer firefighters staged a protest on the steps of Victorian Parliament in opposition to the levy on May 13, with the bill to be debated, and expected to passed on May 15.
Responding to Increasing Natural Disasters
The Victoria Treasury and Finance office says in recent years, the state has experienced increasing floods and storms, resulting in an average of 35,000 callouts per year.“We’re making sure our emergency services have the resources they need to keep Victorians safe, and to help them recover from natural disasters,” the Victorian Treasury and Finance office says on its website.
Volunteers and life members will not have to pay the ESVF on their primary place of residence, but this would be subject to eligibility checks.
“This will bring Victoria’s funding arrangements for emergency services into line with other states,” the office says on its website.
This was no consolation to Victorian Farming Federation President Brett Hosking, who told the ABC that some farmers could still face bill increases of $40,000, which could lead to more farming accidents due to ratepayers pushing themselves to work harder.
Marshall said the Allan government was engaging in “sleight of hand” actions by raising taxes under its ESVF.
“There is no reduction to the consolidated revenue taxes. So it’s a sleight of hand, and it’s so disingenuous and offensive for the government to come out and say, ‘We need to do this to look after our volunteer and emergency services,’” he said.
Libertarian member for South-Eastern Metropolitan Region, David Limbrick, said the ESVF was yet another blow to Victorians already struggling under cost-of-living pressures.
“If the government wants to fund this, they need to fund it through savings in other areas. We cannot afford anymore tax,” he said.
