New EQC levies possible - English
The government has not ruled out additional future levies if they are needed to rebuild EQC's funds.
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The government has not ruled out additional future levies if they are needed to rebuild EQC's funds.
However, it continues to rule out a special earthquake levy on peoples' incomes, as proposed by the Greens earlier this year.
Finance Minister Bill English told reporters this morning that, following a revision of EQC's liability for damage caused by the Canterbury earthquakes, which saw it rise by about $4 billion to $7.1 billion, the way the organisation was structured would be looked at in the future, which could involve changes to how it was funded.
Mr English said it was now expected that EQC's natural disaster fund would “go to zero or beyond that”, which would trigger a crown guarantee.
Due to the need to build the fund up again, Mr English said he could not discount future levies “but we're not looking at those issues today”.
No changes were planned in the immediate future, he said, but as the rebuild in Christchurch continued, the government would consider whether EQC's framework performed well when it was severely tested.
Changes were possible as a result of that, he said.
Colin Williscroft
Tue, 30 Aug 2011
Tue, 30 Aug 2011
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New EQC levies possible - English
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