South Australian households hit with 1.5 per cent Emergency Services Levy increase

UPDATED: South Australian households will be hit by a further 1.5 per cent increase in the controversial Emergency Services Levy, the State Government has announced.

AVERAGE households face a $268 Emergency Services Levy bill in the coming year, as the tax again rises to pay for new equipment and the cost of battling bushfires.

Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis, who shocked households by with a huge increase in the charge two years ago, has announced a further 1.5 per cent rise to kick in from July.

It amounts to an increase of about $4 for the average household and will raise a total take of $292 million to be spent by police, firefighters, the SES and other services.

The Opposition has attacked the increase as yet another hit to SA’s cost of living, which they say is threatening jobs and the economy by hurting retail turnover.

Major components in the increase are $2.8 million in costs attributed to fighting the Pinery fires, and $2.6 million to retrofit firetrucks to help protect them from burn-overs.

CFS and SES volunteer training will also get a new $1.5 million boost.

Mr Koutsantonis said ESL discounts applied for pensioners and concession card holders.

“It’s always a balancing act,” he said. “We have an unacceptable level of unemployment in this state, and we need to be doing as much as we can to stimulate the economy while at the same time giving our volunteers the equipment that they need to fight fires.”

The tax is applied on a sliding scale, with heavier charges imposed on the owners of more expensive properties.

The average $268 charge applies to homes worth $430,000.

Someone with a $1 million property is in line for a $556 ESL hit in the coming year.

Asked if the Government should use significant surpluses projected in the State Budget to cut the ESL, Mr Koutsantonis said he needed spare capacity for economic reform.

“SA is facing some very serious headwinds,” he said.

“We’ve got to keep structurally reforming and changing our economy.

“That means tax reform. That means stimulus.”

Opposition treasury spokesman Rob Lucas said the latest ESL rise followed two large increases, which would be rolled back if the Liberals won the next election in 2018.

That would lead to an average annual saving per household of up to $150, he said.

“It’s one of the reasons why businesses are struggling,” Mr Lucas said.

“It’s one of the reasons why we’ve got the worst unemployment in the nation.

“SA families and households are being smashed on a regular basis by ... taxes and charges.”

Mr Koutsantonis will deliver the State Budget on July 7. He has hinted it could include a new round of tax reform, as well as additional infrastructure spending.

SA Council of Social Services executive director Ross Womersley said he hoped a broad-based land tax similar to council rates would be considered to ensure that the state had the capacity to raise enough money to fund key services like health.

“Cuts to Commonwealth funding, despite some small supplementation, still result in imposing huge future costs for our State Government,” Mr Womersley said.

“Ensuring that we retain a good health and education system and funding to protect and support members of our community who are vulnerable remains a huge challenge.

“We are enormously disappointed that despite recognising the efficiency of a tax like the ESL, the Government hasn’t taken the opportunity to truly reform our tax system and engineer it for the future by consolidating the ESL and many of our inefficient taxes like stamp duty into a broad based land tax.

“It would be good for long-term sustainability of the state’s revenue base, the state’s capacity to act with independence to support community where it’s needed, good for the economy and good for fairness.”