THE cash-strapped State Government is so desperate it has begun taxing rain.
It has been accused of stooping to new lows by slugging rural property owners with a new charge for rainwater that gathers in their dams.
Darren Smith owns a large tract of land at Peats Ridge presently leased out as a chicken farm.
When Mr Smith received his dam licence renewal, he was shocked to receive an extra water usage bill for $60. This was on top of his licence renewal fee.
It was a new charge by the Department of Water and Energy for “unregulated river system management costs”.
“How can they tax me for water that falls from the sky?” Mr Smith asked.
“There’s no meter. It’s an unfair tax - it’s outrageous.”
Mr Smith said there were no government “management costs” on his dam.
It was entirely funded by him, including the water pump attached to it.
Mr Smith took his concerns to Terrigal State Liberal MP Chris Hartcher who agreed.
“Will backyard rainwater tanks be next?” Mr Hartcher said.
“It goes against the entire policy of encouraging people to source their own water.
“Now the government has found a way to use it as a tax. It’s furtive and no one knows about it.”
“It’s a small amount where the natural instinct might be just to pay it. The fee could be $60 or $60,000, it’s still an unfair tax on rural dams.”
Where did the tax on rain come from? Who asked for it and why?
The Express Advocate has been trying to find out for two weeks. We began with questions to the man in charge, Water and Energy Minister Phil Costa.
His media adviser was sure the “new tax” was not a “new tax” and probably applied to the bores on the property but promised to make inquiries. A media spokesman from the Department of Water and Energy later said an answer would be “forthcoming”.
None was. The Express Advocate made more inquiries last week and an initial response was that it was new fee imposed for dams.
It all came under the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal’s (IPART’s) new water sharing regulations that came into effect in 2007.
People were just only now getting their bills. But who asked IPART to set a fee on dams and on what grounds?
What the government says on rain tax
A Department of Water and Energy spokeswoman said the bill was a fixed charge for water management applied to landholders who have an irrigation licence.
She said the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) set fixed water fees to recover the water user’s share of bulk water costs, which included maintaining the supply structures and managing the State’s water resources.
“The charges are generally comprised of a fixed component, based on the licensed entitlement which does not vary with usage, and a variable component based on actual amount of water used,” she said.
She said in Mr Smith’s case, the invoice covered only the fixed component.
Many licence holders are now paying fixed water charges for the first time as they are now part of a water sharing plan which came into effect on July 1, 2007.
It has often been said that sooner or latter, governments will tax the air we breath. The time for such a tax is approaching fast as governments mismanage the economy and squander thousands of dollars on lurks and perks for politicians and their cronies.
