Following the disastrous Victorian bush fires, the Victorian Government has increased the Fire Service Levy to 68%. With the triple tax on tax flow on effect, it means that business insurance is double the price of the base premium.

On the one hand, the federal government argues that they are putting up the tax on alcohol to reduce consumption, yet they cannot see that by doubling the cost of insurance, people buy less. Insurance payouts will approach 2% of Australian GDP this financial year. It is vital to the recovery of the Australian economy to have a vibrant insurance industry. Yet it is seen as a cash cow to be milked with impunity by politicians.

How can politicians sleep at night while allowing the price of insurance, which provides such vital protection to businesses and citizens in general, to be adversely affected by taxation, to the detriment of the economy and worse still, potentially contributing to loss of life. Do the secret ‘administration charges’ taken out of the MFB and CFA by the Victorian government justify this?

Until we, the voters, make it an election issue, we will all be stuck with this enormous deterrent to insurance which hurts every one of us in some way.