AT the large rally held on the steps of parliament on State Budget Day recently, Leader of the Liberal Party Brad Battin announced that if elected, the Nationals and Liberals will scrap Labor’s emergency services property tax.
The controversial Emergency Services and Volunteer Fund (ESVF) is the 60th new or increased tax since coming Labor came into power. The Coalition has called the ESVF “land tax by stealth” and said it will take $2.14B over its first three years, impacting Victorian families, farmers and small businesses under the guise of supporting emergency services.
Under Labor’s changes, a typical home valued at $1M now attracts a $309 annual charge, while small businesses and farmers are paying thousands more without any guarantee that money will go to frontline services.
In some cases, the ESVF will double or even triple charges for property owners across the state, with primary producers hit the hardest, facing hikes of up to 150 per cent while struggling with horrendous drought conditions.
Leader of The Nationals and Shadow Minister for Emergency Services, Danny O’Brien, said regional Victorians had been hit hardest by Labor’s new tax.
“This cruel tax deserves to be consigned to history. The Liberals and Nationals will make sure it is,” Mr O’Brien said.
The Coalition has said that under an elected Nationals Liberal Government, Labor’s ESVF will be scrapped, and the Fire Services Property Levy (FSPL) will be reinstated, with SES funding secured transparently through the State Budget, not hidden inside property rates.
The Victorian State election is expected to be held in November 2026.
The ESVF is expected to replace the FSPL on rate notices from July 1, 2025. A petition to the parliament to immediate cease this change is currently active and as of Monday afternoon, had garnered over 36,000 signatures.
To add your name, go to: www.parliament.vic.gov.au/get-involved/petitions/emergency-services-and-volunteers-fund/
For the full list of the 60 increased or introduced taxes, scan the QR code to view it on The Shepparton Adviser’s website.
60 new and increased Taxes since 2014 under Labor
Since November 2014, the Andrews / Allan Labor Government has imposed 60 new or increased taxes and charges. Of this, 30 have been increases to property taxes or charges, including:
- Increased Fire Services Property Levy (2015)
- Introduced foreign stamp duty (2015-16 Budget)
- Increased absentee landowner surcharge for foreigner property (2015-16 Budget)
- A tripling of brown coal royalties (2016)
- Increased absentee landowner surcharge for foreigner property (2016-17 Budget)
- Increased foreign stamp duty (2016-17 Budget)
- A new tax on Uber and taxi fares (2016-17 Update)
- A new stamp duty on property transfers between spouses (2017-18 Budget)
- An increased stamp duty on new cars (2017-18 Budget)
- A new so-called ‘vacant home’ tax (2017-18 Budget)
- A new stamp duty on off-the-plan purchasers (2017-18 Budget)
- A new annual property valuation to increase land tax (2017-18 Budget)
- A new city access tax for West Gate Tunnel (2017)
- A new point of consumption gambling tax (2018)
- Cladding rectification tax (2019)
- Increased land tax for homes with contiguous blocks on a separate title (2019-20 Budget)
- Retrospective increase in insurance duty for overseas-based insurers (2019)
- Widening of vacant residential land tax to uninhabitable properties (2019)
- Increased luxury car tax (2019-20 Budget)
- Gold mining royalties (2019-20 Budget)
- Increased Fire Services Property Levy (2019)
- A new corporate restructure duty (2019-20 Budget)
- Increased foreign stamp duty (2019-20 Budget)
- Increased absentee landowner surcharge for foreigner property (2019-20 Budget)
- Increase to the Municipal and Industrial Landfill Levy (‘bin tax’) (2020)
- Environment Mitigation Levy (2020)
- Road Occupation Charge on construction companies (2020)
- Number plate tax (2020)
- A new ‘on-dock rail’ charge on imported shipping containers (2020)
- Increased stamp duty on property transactions (2021-22 Budget)
- A new affordable housing tax (windfall gain tax on rezoned land) (2021-22 Budget)
- Electric Vehicle tax (2021)
- Increased land tax on taxable landholdings above $1.8 million (2021-22 Budget)
- Expanded point of consumption tax on gambling to keno (2021-22 Budget)
- 10 per cent increase to Victorian Government penalty units (2021)
- Increased Fire Services Property Levy (2021)
- Expanded land tax on gender-exclusive clubs (2021-22 Budget)
- Mental health payroll tax surcharge (2021-22 Budget)
- Increased wagering and betting tax (2021)
- 50 per cent increase to Births, Deaths and Marriages fees (2022)
- Narrowed the Land Tax exemption for charitable institutions (2022)
- A new ‘Schools Tax’ on non-government schools (2023-24 Budget)
- 42 per cent increase to the WorkCover average premium rate (2023)
- Expanded land tax on unimproved residential land (2023)
- Increase to Births, Deaths and Marriages fees (2023)
- Increased payroll tax on businesses (2023-24 Budget)
- 43 per cent increase to domestic building insurance charges (2023)
- Increased land tax on landholdings above $300,000 (2023-24 Budget)
- Land tax on landholdings between $50,000 to $300,000 (2023-24 Budget)
- Increased absentee landowner surcharge for foreigner property (2023-24 Budget)
- Expanded land tax on vacant residential land (Holiday House Tax) (2023)
- Increased wagering and betting tax (2023-24 Budget)
- Holiday and Tourism Tax (2024)
- 53 per cent increase to domestic building insurance charges (2024)
- A new health tax on GPs and allied health professionals (Health Tax) (2024)
- Second increase to the Municipal and Industrial Landfill Levy (‘bin tax’) (2024-2025 Budget)
- Increase to the Fire Services Property Levy (2024)
- Death Tax by stealth – up to 650% increase to process wills (2024)
- Increase to Energy Safe Victoria industry levy forces up household power bills (2024)
- Creation of the expanded Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund tax (2024)
Announced but not considered by Parliament:
- Announced expansion of Congestion Levy in the forthcoming Budget (2025)
