Tax fight takes centre stage in rural NSW
Sunrise Exchange News, 1 August 2006
The level of taxes imposed on insurance is continuing to generate plenty of heat with politicians, and there are some interesting people leading the growing movement. Prominent among them in the region around the western NSW towns of Forbes is a local insurance broker who took a stand as commercial fire services levy rates rose two percentage points on July 21 to 36%.
Lester D’Ombrain, who works for OAMPS, says the FSL, GST and stamp duty charged by the NSW Government on top of insurance premiums push buyers beyond any budget they can afford and often results in people not bothering to insure at all.
“The State Government is empire building in the lead-up to the election with unethical taxes on top of taxes,” he told Sunrise Exchange News. “But still the guys who don’t pay for FSL by not buying insurance are the ones getting the benefits.”
The campaign to remove FSL charges from insurance policies is well under way across the state with the launch of insurance tax rallies at main centres. State Opposition MPs are also getting behind the cause.
As a broker in the Forbes district for the past 37 years, Mr D’Ombrain says he has seen many farmers fork out large sums for FSL but still not get assistance from the brigades when a fire happens. He says the fight for FSL reform has now become more personal.
He says the main point of concern for commercial FSL rates is the continual change in the rate charged. The NSW FSL stood at 26% for commercial insurance in January and rose a further three times by July.
Mr D’Ombrain says for the system to be fairer for all, the FSL should be rated on land and property taxes. And if the responsibility remains on insurance premiums to cover the cost, the Government should start chasing down international insurers.
This one-broker protest movement has also helped organise a petition to be handed to the State Government in the next couple of weeks. Last month he took a busload of Forbes and district farmers and business people to a tax protest rally in Dubbo.
While there’s a lot of support from the western NSW region, Mr D’Ombrain says much more needs to be done. He says the Iemma Government “better be prepared for a fight” at election time next March, because the FSL issue is “another volcano waiting to erupt”.
“Unless everyone gets off their backside and stands up to these taxes, the rates are only going to go up.”