Australia is by far and away the most heavily taxed country in the world when it comes to Insurance. For reference, residents in California, which has the highest incidence of fire in the world pay 2.4% tax. In Tasmania it is over 60.77%. That is 25 TIMES MORE!
It is a completely inappropriate and unjust method of taxation to fund the fire and civil defence authorities. The entire community benefits and so it is only reasonable that we all pay equitably.
We are now pleased to say that New South Wales has followed suit and has at long last begun the process of phasing out of this unjust tax (this website is proud to have had a small part in influencing the government’s decision). Unfortunately, Tasmania still has this tax over its commercial insurances.
While we are now seeing a move in the right direction the fight is far from over, this is due to the Stamp Duty Tax that still applies to insurance premiums and the GST. Meaning that anyone that has any form of property insurance is not only paying two forms of tax but a tax on the tax.
We urge the State and Territory governments to remove the tax from insurance. We genuinely hope that it will not take such a huge loss of life and damage to property before the governments realise the adverse effect that these taxes promote.
