Allan’s new fire levy ‘the final straw’ for Clifton Hill grocer

The owner of a Melbourne grocery store says his family’s business survived three economic crises but couldn’t withstand the Allan government’s controversial new emergency services levy.

Jacinta Allan's Emergency Services levy was the straw that broke the camel’s back for this migrant success story. Picture: Wayne Taylor

The owner of a Clifton Hill grocery store says the Premier’s emergency services levy tax has forced his family’s 57-year-old business to close.

Albert Aiello said the $3500 Emergency Services Volunteer Fund Levy tacked on to his rates notice by the Allan government was the “final straw” for the store in Melbourne’s northeast.

Founded by his Italian migrant parents in 1967, the business survived crippling stagflation in the ’70s, another recession in the ’90s, and the Covid pandemic.

Mr Aiello’s father opened the store with his wife in 1968. Picture: Supplied

But 47-year-old Mr Aiello says crippling state taxes have proved harder than any of those challenges, adding it is “absolutely” the hardest it’s ever been to run a small business like his in Victoria.

“I don’t know what the state government thinks it’s achieving by putting the burden on small businesses because most of them are owned by families,” he said.

“We can’t pay this off like a Woolworth’s Metro can.

“It wasn’t even this hard in the ’90s when interest rates were over 20 per cent.”

Mr Aiello says the Premier forgot to think about small businesses and the families that depend on them when she legislated the controversial new tax. Picture: Wayne Taylor

Mr Aiello said the new levy was the nail in the coffin because it followed “a combination of things like the electricity bill doubling, the taxes, and the insurance premiums going up”.

“We used to pay three or four grand a year for property taxes, and now it’s $100,000 … then I heard about the rates levy and I thought ‘how bad could it be?’

“Then I saw the notice.”

Mr Aiello, who grew up in the flat above the store, said the business was a classic migrant success story that wouldn’t have been possible with today’s taxes.

“Dad built the place during a materials shortage and began trading before construction had even finished,” he said.

“You couldn’t do that now.”

Reflecting on the store's 57 years of business, Mr Aiello says it's never been more difficult to run a business in Victoria due to excessive state government tax hikes. Picture: Supplied

The family has since had to sell their properties to stay afloat, but Mr Aiello said it was clear the business just could not survive in the current environment, as he was no longer able to cover his bills or pay himself a wage.

Mr Aiello said the government’s role in “killing my business” was particularly devastating because his late father had raised him and his sister to be “staunch Labor voters”.

“He would be absolutely ­bewildered because he used to be a factory worker and told us they were about lifting up the middle class,” he said.

“Now he’d be rolling in his grave.”

A Victorian Government spokesperson said every single dollar raised from the new levy would go towards emergency services – as enshrined in legislation.

“We have always backed business – cutting or abolishing taxes and fees more than 65 times – that includes increasing the payroll tax-free threshold four times so fewer businesses are liable for the tax,” the spokesperson said.