MEMBER for Mildura Ali Cupper says councils should not “rob Peter to pay Paul” to provide fairer rates for farmers.
Ms Cupper said the solution for the “problematic” rates burden on farmers was not to equalise council rates among residential, business and farmers but by getting more support for councils from the Federal Government.
Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) president Emma Germano said last week the VFF would campaign in marginal electorates, such as Mildura, for support for reforms to equalise the rates that rural ratepayers paid in comparison to Melbourne ratepayers.
Among the reforms, Ms Germano said the VFF would seek changes to the Victorian Fair Go rate capping system to put caps on rates collected from differential categories of land.
Since 2016, the Victorian Government has applied a cap on increases in rates for all councils. In 2021-22 it was 1.50 per cent and will rise to 1.75 per cent in the coming financial year.
But the cap only applies on general rates and individual rates can increase or decrease by more or less than the capped rise.
The VFF, in its analysis of 2019-20 local government draft budgets, found that farmers were paying rates twice the value of average residential rates.
The VFF election platform urges the Victorian Government to undertake a feasibility study of the VFF’s Equalisation Funding model, which calls on the state government to set a general rate for all property and redistribute funds collected based on equity and need.
Ms Cupper said while the rates farmers paid was “a special problem”, she said the answer didn’t come from putting a “higher burden” on rural residents and businesses.
“I do acknowledge that there is a unique incongruence for farmers in that rates are a wealth tax, they’re a tax on wealth, but they are charged as if it’s a tax on income,” Ms Cupper said.
But she said it wasn’t clear if the burden for paying the gap created by placing an additional cap on farmers’ rates would be shifted onto rural and regional residents or regional businesses.
“I can foresee that becoming a bit of a flashpoint for further conflict and division,” she said.
“Rate relief shouldn’t come from one of the other classes of ratepayers in your community. It should come from policy levers at state and federal level.”
Ms Cupper called on the Federal Government to almost double the funds it allocates to the Financial Assistance Grants program, which provides revenue to councils, and to change legislation to give states more flexibility in allocating funding.
She said despite writing to seek support from regional MPs for her campaign, she had not received backing for the push to get access to more funding for vulnerable regional councils.
But she had spoken to the new Minister for Local Government, Melissa Horne, about asking the Federal Minster for Local Government, Catherine King, to adjust the financial assistance criteria.
