Unfair taxes will hit regional communities hardest
Published on 14 February 2025
Mansfield Shire Council unanimously voted to advocate for its community against the new Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund (ESVF), which it says will be an unreasonable burden on the community and on local governments. The motion reflects the concern of many local governments and supports the recent statement by Regional Councils Victoria that the changes were unfair on rural councils and rural communities.
On Friday 13 December 2024, the Victorian Government announced that the Fire Services Property Levy (FSPL) will be replaced with the new Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund (ESVF) from 1 July 2025. This ESVF is a significant increase over the existing levy (FSPL), particularly in the primary production (farming) areas, which could see an increase of around 3 times the existing levy. All ratepayers will incur this tax and in Mansfield Shire alone this could mean an additional $2 million in property taxes. This is a significant burden for ratepayers on top of their existing rates and on top of the recently implemented Vacant Residential Land Tax.
Mayor Cr Steve Rabie said the new tax was unfair on communities and unfair on local government.
“Regional communities, such as ours, have a high proportion of primary producers. This tax transfers the burden of this cost to our community members. All of them, but especially to the primary producers. This increased tax is an excessive burden during the cost of living crisis, with implications for the economic health of the Mansfield Shire community,” said Cr Rabie.
“It’s also unfair to local governments in regional areas. We are one of the smallest local governments in Victoria, with a small budget and small staff. With this tax, we’ll be asked to play tax collector for the state government. We’ll have to pay more than $2m in total in additional taxes to the state government. Then we have to collect this from our community. This shouldn’t be the role of local government and we don’t have the resources to do it. We’re the only level of government with a front desk. In a small council like ours, our customer service team and the staff we have to administrate our rates will have to answer to our community who will be surely questioning this unreasonable tax.
“It is an excessive burden that is being asked by the state government of our community and of us. We estimate that it will cost more than $2m on top of rates. Council will have to pay that to the state government and then collect this from our ratepayers. We are very, very careful with how we spend ratepayers money. We have managed ratepayer funds carefully, delivering exceptional value for money in every decision we have made, all the while trying to keep the burden of tax as low as possible for our ratepayers. To now have to ask our community members to cough up this massive spike on top of rates is unreasonable.
“We’re asking other local councils to join us in asking the state government to reconsider this tax and how they apply it,” said Cr Rabie.
“It’s not fair to tax our primary producers who will be asked to carry the brunt of this tax. It’s not fair on our communities – these are hard times and raising a tax now, directly to households but also to those who put food on the table of those households – both of these factors will take a hit on family budgets.
“This Council has unanimously said – we are taking this opportunity to advocate for our community members and asking the state to review the tax and to review how it asks local government to participate in its collection.”
Council passed two other key advocacy motions at its meeting on Wednesday 12 February. One that supports the development of a fully funded, new, single site hospital in a new central cross-border location for the Albury Wodonga region, of which Mansfield Shire, and another to take a motion to the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) State Council meeting that asks the state government not to take funding from Commonwealth grants awarded to local councils.