[Tracey Walker]

Homeowner backlash compels rethink on NSW fire levy
• The Australian
• 12:00AM May 26, 2017
The NSW government is reconsidering how it will charge ratepayers a special levy to fund the state’s fire and emergency ser¬vices budget after a backlash from dismayed homeowners and commercial businesses about big bill hikes ahead.
Senior government sources confirmed yesterday that the ¬Berejiklian government had looked again at the impact of a new formula for calculating the levy after complaints that it amounted to a new “Sydney tax” based on ¬official land valuations.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and her Treasurer, Dominic Perrottet, appear set to change the formula for the levy, possibly including a cap on the sum charged, following reports in The Australian about the impact of the new regime.
Under a new system to begin on July 1, home insurance companies will end their role as the levy’s collector for the state government because it will no longer be added to annual insurance premium bills. Instead, the government is passing the collection job to local councils, which will add the levy to annual rates.
Ms Berejiklian and Mr Perrottet have promoted the revised scheme as much fairer because the burden of paying the tax is spread to all property owners, not just those who take out insurance in the state with the lowest ¬insurance take-up rate.
The revised formula for calculating the new levy — based on a fixed sum of $100 for residential owners plus $21.90 for every $100,000 of unimproved land value set by the Valuer-General — has drawn protests from homeowners and lobby groups representing local councils, pensioner groups and charities.
All say that high unimproved land values in Sydney could see many people, especially those on fixed incomes or running struggling businesses, paying annual levies two to seven times more than the rates previously paid to cover 81 per cent of the emergency services budget.
The NSW Coalition partyroom is understood to have been reassured by Mr Perrottet that the government was rethinking the levy formula and some amendment was expected. The changes will still take effect on July 1, but are expected to be ¬revised after “tinkering”.
Mr Perrottet said last night the new levy collection system was intended to be “budget-neutral” and was one used by other states.
“We are aware that some ¬people have concerns with the level of increases in their FESL rates — especially in the commercial and industrial sectors,” he said. “We are a government that listens — and we are listening to those concerns and actively working to address them.”
A senior source said the government wanted the new system to be “as fair as possible” and ¬accepted the levy change was the “biggest tax reform in a generation” in so far as state taxation.
Critics have branded the levy and the way it has been calculated as a new “land tax”. The Combined Pensioners and Super¬annuants Association claims it will force many residents to pay the levy for the first time when they cannot afford it.
The government had tried to promote the new system as a plus for home insurers on the basis premiums would fall an average 20 per cent.
Opponents claim insurance payment falls will not necessarily match the rise in levy payments to be collected by councils, and many property owners stand to get a shock when they see the scale of increases to council rates.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/homeowner-backlash-compels-rethink-on-nsw-fire-levy/news-story/02b4aadd76b685c969e81079265556cc

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