Industry Levies. DFMC may pay on your behalf to the relevant industry body or authority any levies. If this levy is voluntary, you can advise DFMC in writing to stop collecting and paying that levy. The amount of any levy due will be deducted from the payment for your milk.
Industry Levies. Industry bodies can submit proposals to establish levies to raise funds in order to respond to a problem or opportunity requiring collective industry funding. Applications are submitted to the Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and assessed in 17 Pers. comm. with a representative of Fisheries, PIRSA, 28 February 2008. 18 Pers. comm. with a representative of Fisheries, DPIW, Tasmania, December 2007. accordance with Xxxx Principles and Levy Guidelines issued by the Levies Revenue Service (LRS) within the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF). Approval requires that the levy is supported by industry members and stakeholders, and industry organisations must also satisfy a number of requirements, including: ▪ showing how the levy will benefit payers and the industry in general; ▪ estimating the amount the levy will raise; ▪ providing a clear plan on how the money will be spent; and ▪ a recommendation as to how the levy or charge is to be calculated (for example, by product weight or value, or individual head of stock). Once approved, legislation must be drafted to implement a levy (which can take 4-5 months), and it is then administered by LRS on a cost recovery basis. Funds collected via levies are paid into the Government’s consolidated revenue fund before being disbursed to the relevant industry body. In some cases, the Government has matched R&D expenditure up to the limit of levy receipts. Examples of established levies in Australia include: ▪ a horticultural levy, imposed on dried fruit primary producers ($11-$32/tonne of fruit), which was used to raise R&D funding for Horticulture Australia Ltd between 1992 and 2001 (dates);19 ▪ a ballast water R&D funding xxxx, introduced in 1998, which imposed a levy on large vessels entering Australian waters - $210 per bulk carrier and $140 for all other ships over 50 metres in length – in order to raise $2 million for R&D over a 2 year period, after which the levy ceased; ▪ three commercial shipping levies that fund the ship safety and pollution prevention activities of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority: − a Regulatory Functions Levy covers ship safety regulatory functions; − a Marine Navigation Levy funds the national network of marine aids to navigation; and − a Protection of the Sea Levy is allocated to marine pollution preparedness and response.20 A disadvantage of levies in terms of securing a reliable funding source is that they tend to be implemented for ...
