Bid to axe fire service levy
Caroline James
From: Sunday Herald Sun Feb 7th 2010
AUSTRALIA'S peak insurance body is putting pressure on the Victorian Bushfire Royal Commission to axe the fire service levy.
The Insurance Council of Australia this month made its second submission to the commission, "calling for the abolition of the FSL", which is added to all house insurance premiums.
ICA spokeswoman Sandra Van Dijk said Victoria's FSL represented almost 80 per cent of total home insurance fees.
The Metropolitan Fire Brigade and the Country Fire Authority "rely on insured consumers for the bulk of their funding" via the levy, the submission stated.
"We think the current (fire services) funding model is not fair," Ms Van Dijk said.
"It is paid for by everyone (who has home insurance) and only a few benefit.
"So we have put forward alternative models including the fact that most state governments have moved to systems where fire and emergency services' levies are collected through charges on property value rather than insurance premiums."
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Comment: this will become an election issue!
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