Fire Services Levy reform campaigner Mario Galteri met with Coalition MP Peter Ryan last week to put the case for a restructure of the FSL system.
By Kath Gannaway
A YARRA Valley businessman is calling on the State Government to put a stop to the inequity of the current fire service levy (FSL) system.
The FSL is paid as a percentage of house and business insurance premiums and funds the Country Fire Authority and the Metropolitan Fire Brigade.
Mario Galteri, owner of Coldstream Timber and Hardware in Coldstream is campaigning for a system which would see the fire services funded from the public purse.
He says there are a number of inequities, starting with the fact that figures which have come out of the recent February bushfires show that 30 per cent of property owners did not have insurance.
The other he says is that businesses are now being made to pay an increased rate of 68 per cent of the premium, while house owners pay 26 per cent.
“Most businesses would have insurance as one of their outgoings and would be paying it, but it’s not an equal tax,” Mr Galteri said.
“It’s nothing, 26 or 68 and that is simply not a fair tax when everybody gets the same service.”
“Apart from FSL on the premium, stamp duty and GST must be paid as well so for every dollar in insurance the government gets another dollar from business,” Mr Galteri said.
“These taxes are paid regardless of whether the company makes a profit or a loss.”
He said the cost was a huge burden on businesses.
“In our case the FSL and taxes add about an extra $15,000 to our annual insurance bill.”
Mr Galteri said the rising FSL and taxes were forcing insurance costs up, acting as a further disincentive to people and businesses to insure their properties at prudent levels – or at all.
“Victoria continues to exploit insurance as a convenient and low-profile way to extract millions of dollars from people and individuals who simply want to protect their property,” he said.
Coalition Shadow Minister for Regional and Rural Development and for Bushfire Response, Peter Ryan, met with Mr Galteri last week.
He said Mr Galteri was typical of people who pay their way but are penalised by what he also labelled a grossly inequitable system.
“The system is just not fair,” he said. “I have asked the Federal Government to have a look at this in the current tax review and asked the Bushfire Royal Commission to consider the Fire Services Levy as part of their recommendations.
“With the recent announcement by the government of a further five per cent increase in the levy, an already unsatisfactory arrangement has become completely unacceptable,” he said.
The same amount of money will need to be provided because it is vital that the CFA gets proper funding,” Mr Ryan said. “The question is how best to do it.”
Mr Galteri is using his blog – coldstreamau.blogspot.com to raise awareness of what he said was a situation which affected every business in the Yarra Valley.
