00:00Lismore-based Adele Wessel knew her home insurance premium would go up this year, but she was
00:08shocked when it arrived.
00:10I didn't expect it to be nearly $1,000 more though.
00:14The city, still rebuilding after the 2022 floods, was hit hard by ex-tropical cyclone
00:20Alfred.
00:21Her home was unscathed, which was lucky because to make insurance affordable, she slashed
00:27her cover.
00:28I increased the excess that I was going to pay and I also reduced the value of the home.
00:34Adele's bill shows taxes are driving up her costs by more than a quarter.
00:39New South Wales and Tasmanian residents are triple taxed, paying insurance stamp duty,
00:44emergency services levies and the GST.
00:48People elsewhere pay two taxes, except for the ACT where there's only GST.
00:54In those states where there is a higher tax take, there is a higher rate of under-insurance.
01:00The ACT boldly removed its 10% insurance duty eight years ago.
01:05There's hundreds of millions of dollars less tax being collected on those premiums than
01:10there would have been otherwise and we think it's fairer to spread that risk.
01:16To replace the lost revenue, Andrew Barr made a controversial call, increasing taxes on
01:21ratepayers.
01:22We've kept it revenue neutral, but we were prepared to expend some political capital
01:28and it did cost us votes, but now nearly eight years on, it's barely mentioned.
01:34The insurance industry wants other governments to do the same.
01:38It's labelled stamp duty unfair because those with higher premiums pay more tax, often people
01:44on the climate front lines.
01:46It is an insidious tax in that it keeps continuing to rise with the cost of insurance premiums.
01:52It needs to be abolished, or at the very least right-sized or frozen.
01:57Mehreen Faruqi chaired an inquiry late last year which recommended the federal government
02:02should incentivise states and territories to abolish insurance taxes.
02:07Unless federal government steps in and actually tries to make insurance cheaper, these communities
02:15will continue to suffer.
02:17The ABC asked all states and territories, but none are considering cutting insurance
02:22stamp duty.
02:24The NSW government plans to scrap the emergency services levy, but there's no timeline.
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