PRESSURE is building on regional MPs to bury the State Government’s controversial new emergency services levy that lump farmers with a 186 per cent tax increase.
Legislation to start the tax from July 1 will be debated in the Legislative Council next week.
While Premier Jacinta Allan has vowed to negotiate with crossbenchers to pass the Bill, at least one Northern Victoria Region MP will oppose the tax.
One Nation’s Ricki Lee Tyrrell on Monday confirmed her opposition to the Government’s plans.
“I will not be supporting this bill. This is just another tax grab by the State Government that directly hits the hip pocket of regional Victorians,” she said.
“My office has been inundated with calls and emails from constituents throughout my electorate voicing their opposition to the new ESVF levy. Our farmers will be impacted more than most from this levy and regional communities will be hit hardest by a desperate and financially incompetent State Government.”
But Animal Justice Party’s Georgie Purcell and Greens MP in Western Victoria Region, Sarah Mansfield, both representing Loddon Shire communities in the Legislative Council, are yet to declare their stance on the levy that is being opposed by Loddon Shire Council and the Victorian Farmers’ Federation.
A spokesperson for Dr Mansfield said: “Dr Mansfield won’t be providing comment at this time.”
Ms Tyrrell will join with the Coalition in a bid to stop the tax that the Government wants to replace the current fire services levy. The change would almost double the amount added to rate notices and collected by local councils for the Government
Liberal MP for Northern Victoria Region, Wendy Lovell, told the Loddon Herald: “The Liberal Party is opposing the Allan Labor Government’s big new tax that will hit farmers and regional Victorians the hardest, and in its first three years rip more than $2.1 billion in additional tax from the pockets of Victorian families who are already struggling with the cost of living.
“Labor’s new tax will be used to fund government departments and other government agencies that have traditionally been funded from consolidated revenue, and is a ploy by Labor to funnel cash to government departments and hide their financial incompetence.
“The Liberal Party will oppose this bill outright. However, the Liberals will also move amendments to the bill, in case the Government gains enough support from the crossbench for the bill to pass.
“Those amendments would ensure that revenue raised could only be used to fund fire services and the SES, and would prohibit the Government using this revenue to fund departments within the meaning of the Public Administration Act 2004. The Liberals will also move an amendment to cause the Government to report annually on: (a) the total amount of revenue raised from the levy in the financial year; (b) a breakdown of that amount by local government area and by land use classification ie residential;  commercial; industrial; primary production; public benefit; vacant land and (c) the amounts distributed to each funding recipient from the revenue raised from the levy in the financial year.
“I am on the record as opposing this tax, and I have been working hard in the lead up to the debate to convince members of the crossbench to oppose it.”