LAST week, the State Government passed a Bill, the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund, which will increase state taxes, particularly in rural areas, and charge it through Swan Hill Rural City Council.
There has been overwhelming rejection and anger from all our communities and neighbouring municipalities.
This is nothing but another excessive tax grab, targeting rural, honest working farming and business communities to fund major state budget shortfalls.
Our communities pay enough, and our hard-earned taxes go to the Federal Government to be distributed out to state governments.
If the Allan Labor Government wants more, they should seek it from their federal counterparts who have plenty of our taxes and not double tax us.
The Allan Government do not even have the guts to administer the charges and debt collection for their tax, and unfairly legislate council to do their dirty work, placing pressure on local people.
The State Revenue Office should be collecting the states taxes not councils who receive no benefit from this unfair task.
Our state roads have fallen into complete disrepair through lack of funding and neglect, putting our road safety at risk yet we see enormous spending splurges and wasteful funds spent in metropolitan Melbourne.
Our services have seen declining State Government contributions to local government over the years such as libraries and school crossing supervisors, and the state caps council revenues under inflation, to assist with the cost of living for Victorians. And then it does this.
We experience poor rail services and bad maintenance to the disgrace of seeing our train engine disconnecting itself from the carriages recently.
We even have to fund our own hospital MRI machine.
Our communities are fed up with being overlooked and neglected.
Our Australian culture, goodwill between neighbours and community members brought now into conflict by unwanted powerlines, wind towers, and now the gall to tax the volunteers and farmers who work so hard putting food on your table and then volunteering their time to protect and help people in desperate need, now to be slugged for it.
I strongly believe that urgent business is needed to inform the Allan Government that they must repeal this abhorrent tax on our good, minded volunteers and our hard-working community.
It will tax our communities an additional $2 million a year and we were already paying $3.6 million a year of state tax for the existing Fire Services Levy.
This tax is being charged through councils, which is not transparent tax and places the burden, distrust and anger at council. Our communities will not benefit from the additional tax which the state is using to fix its budget problems.
We need to reject this tax. e need to stand up and support our community.
At council’s meeting this week I received unanimous support to write a letter to the Allan Government and tell them this tax is abhorrent, inequitable and unfair with farmers and industrial ratepayers losing the most.
We call on the State Government to repeal this decision and if it proceeds to administer its own tax collection, administration and debt collection.
Cr Lindsay Rogers
Swan Hill Rural City Council
