Blog post from Dr Allan manning on www.allanmanning.com

 

 

NSW Government continue to bend the facts to hide their ineptitude

Like all rate payers in New South Wales, I received a flyer from the New South Wales Government on the emergency services levy. (to see a copy of the flyer, go to http://www.allanmanning.com/nsw-government-continue-to-bend-the-facts-to-hide-their-ineptitude/)

I cannot accept that deferring the levy is going to help those that are currently bearing the cost of funding the fire and emergency services.

Fact 1: everyone in New South Wales benefits from having an efficient, well funded, well trained and equipped fire and emergency services.

Fact 2: the men and women that do this work deserve our full support for doing some of the most dangerous and stressful work in our society to protect all of us and our property.

Fact 3: it is completely unfair that only a percentage of the community bear the bulk of the cost and not everyone.

Fact 4: by deferring the changes, it means that those that insure go back to bearing the brunt of funding the fire and emergency services.

Fact 5: this, in turn, means that to avoid paying the levy people do not insure or do not insure fully. Putting an even greater burden on the prudent and risk averse who insure fully.

Fact 6: Currently, the Fire and Emergency Services means that many insurance policies are 40% higher in New South Wales than say Victoria. If you add the triple taxation of Goods and Services Tax being imposed on the Fire and Emergency Services and then the State Government Stamp Duty on insurance premiums, Fire and Emergency Services Fees, and the GST component any fool can see the inequity of having the levy on any product or service.

Fact 7: Every single study on Fire and Emergency Services shows that the fairest way for the community to fund the service is to have as broad a tax base as possible. This is property rates where everyone pays, whether you are a tenant or an owner occupier.

Fact 8: In 2012, the New South Wales Government issued a White Paper and called for input from the community on moving the levy away from insurance, rightly pointing out that it was inequitable in the current form. This means the NSW government have had 5 years to get this right as well as the benefit of consulting with all the other mainland states who successfully made the transition from insurance to property rates.

Armed with these facts, I am sure that you will agree with me that this is a monumental and inexcusable balls up by the New South Wales government.

I am pleased to see the issue is getting some time in the Sydney Morning Herald  which sheds more facts on the waste involved here and how the new levy was so wrongly calculated. For a home owner who fully insures it should logically have gone down with the broader tax base.

We cannot put the toothpaste back in the tube but what we need is some honesty on the part of the Government that they and only they got it wrong and secondly an honest time line as to when the reforms will be implemented.

My guess is that it is in the too hard basket for this government, that is, it is beyond their ability and that we may be stuck with it for another generation.

Of course, this is not the only issue this government has failed us on. The water issue from the Murray Darling is a complete story of failure in itself.

We all deserve better!

 

NSW Government continue to bend the facts to hide their ineptitude.