Council reiterates opposition to ESVF

Published on 26 June 2025

Council has confirmed its commitment to advocating against the new ESVF tax in its meeting on 24 June 2025.

Mayor Cr Steve Rabie said that Council had unanimously voted to advocate against the tax in February and had been doing all it could since then to oppose the tax.

“We have been loud in our opposition against this tax,” said Cr Rabie.

“The Deputy Mayor and I travelled to Melbourne to protest the introduction of the new and unfair tax on the steps of parliament with at least 5,000 other frustrated taxpayers on Tuesday 20 May.

“It was a powerful experience with speakers from all walks of life and all sides of politics uniting to say that this tax hurts everyone in our communities.”

In a media release on 30 May 2025 the Victorian Government announced a 12 month freeze on the ESVF rate for all primary production properties keeping it at the 2024-25 level of 28.7 cents per $1,000 CIV (Capital Improved Value) rather than increasing it to 71.8 cents as originally proposed.

“While this short-term relief is welcome it does not address the long-term financial burden this inequitable and unfair tax will impose on the Mansfield Shire community,” said Cr Rabie.

“The freeze doesn’t provide any relief to any other property categories, which means residents and ratepayers will still have to pay the unfair tax without relief.

“Our ratepayers will have to cough up $700,000 in additional funding to the ESVF on top of their rates, without any promise of direct benefit to our community.

“The original FSPL versus the new ESVF increases the cost to our community significantly. For residents, they will pay more than 35 percent and industrial properties even more at 64 percent. This is out of Council’s hands,” said Cr Rabie.

“A temporary suspension for primary producers is not enough. We don’t want our community to have to pay the enormous increase and we certainly don’t want to be the ones who have to collect it. So we’ll continue to advocate against the tax and I’m pleased we have advocated so strongly against the ESVF so far,” said Cr Rabie.

“Unfortunately, any amount Council collects at rates time, including both municipal rates and the ESVF, will be distributed directly to the State Government in proportion to the amount owing for the amount owing for ESVF. It is part of the law that the Council must do this – apportion the amount of rates received to the ESVF. This is a further silencing of our community’s voice and, if a ratepayer chooses not to pay, Council will directly lose revenue. This means less of our community funds will actually reach us so we will have less to spend on important community services and infrastructure.

“It’s not the State Government you’ll hurt by not paying it, it’s local government. This is your Council. Take this up with the State Government and make your voice heard, just as we are fighting to have your voice heard. We know it’s not fair – we agree. But we do encourage everyone to pay the full ESVF and rates, as we want to be able to continue to deliver on the commitments we have made to the community,” said Cr Rabie.

Council will include information that clarifies how the ESVF impacts rates payers on its municipal rates notices. Along with other councils, Mansfield Shire Council has voted to continue to collectively advocate against the tax.