JABUK mixed farmer Ian Farley says a planned increase to the Emergency Services Levy in the state budget could turn out to be disproportionately expensive for farmers owning multiple properties.
"A lot of farmers are in different ownerships of their land," he said.
"One farm might be in a trust, the son might have a farm in his name, and the mother and father in their own name.
"To my understanding, that's four different entities and they've got to pay on every property."
Mr Farley also said cuts to Natural Resources Management boards were likely to result in increased levies for farmers.
"Agriculture is the biggest earner in this state, and yet at every turn, the government wants to be belting farmers up," he said.
"But farmers are not a cash cow. Surely you'd want to be supporting your biggest earner, not taxing it out of existence."
Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis said the government was raising the ESL to help fill the "health budget hole" created by the federal budget, which, if passed, would cut health expenditure in SA by $655 million.
The ESL fund was historically used to pay for services such as the CFS and SES, but it will now be spent on healthcare as well and would raise $357m in the next four years.
The Treasurer's spokesperson said the ESL needed to be paid on each property a landholder owned, but the level of increases would depend on where a property was located.
"Discounts on the ESL – called Regional Area Factors – apply to landholders and homeowners outside the metropolitan area," she said.
"For the purpose of the ESL, vacant land is treated as primary production land and incurs the same ESL liabilities."
She said owners of primary production vehicles, trailers and recreational boats would not be impacted by an increase to the mobile property ESL because owners did not pay the levy on trailers or recreational vehicles.
The ESL for primary production properties in regional cities and towns would increase by $61 to $193, while in country council areas they would jump $57 to $139.
Levies for residential properties in regional cities and towns would increase by $83 to $203, while in country council areas they would rise by $71 to $145.
For a median household in metropolitan Adelaide, the average increase is expected to be about $150 a year.
* Full report in Stock Journal, June 26, 2014 issue.
Malcolm Sutton
Stock Journal's news journalist and magazine editor.
Stock Journal's news journalist and magazine editor.
