The Insurance Council of Australia issued a press release today following the very promising news from the New South Wales government on the removal of the fire service levy. See http://www.insurancecouncil.com.au/media/92297/120612-ica-welcomes-nsw-budget-steps-towards-tax-reform-final.pdf

While the article mentions 36% for commercial insurance (commercial, rural, contract works and business interruption) and home and contents at 21% this is not the true figure.

What is being missed in these figures is the triple tax figures brought about by GST and State Government Stamp Duty being imposed on the FSL rates. What they  have quoted is the current FSL rate only.

Based on a Fire Service Levy of 36% on Commercial 21% on Home and Contents, plus GST at 10% and NSW State Government Stamp Duty at 9% it is in reality 63.064% for commercial and 45.079% for domestic which depending on whether you are talking about commercial or domestic property insurance is either side of double the rates quoted by the ICA.

This important difference is highlighted here as the three taxes combined goes a long way to explain the high levels of under and non-insurance in New South Wales and Victoria.