ACC Minister Nick Smith has announced ACC will cut employee levies by 17% or NZ$340 million a year and will cut employer levies by 22% or NZ$247 million from April 1 next year after ACC reversed massive deficits by reducing claims costs 15%.
“These significant levy reductions are good news for families and businesses and are affordable because of the prudent management of ACC’s finances,” ACC Minister Nick Smith said.
“These levy reductions are affordable because we have reversed ACC’s large deficits of $2.4 billion in 2007/08 and $4.8 billion in 2008/09 with surpluses of $2.5 billion in each year since. The big turnaround is because ACC’s annual claim costs, which grew by 50% between 2005 and 2008, have since been reduced by 15%. Improved rehabilitation has seen a 20% reduction in the number of people on long-term compensation, which is ACC’s biggest cost," he said.
“We are on track to achieve 100% solvency in the Earners’ and Work Accounts in the next year enabling levy reductions for employees and employers. Reductions in motor vehicle levies are not affordable yet because solvency in that account is only at 66%.”
The Earners' Account Levy (paid by wage and salary earners) is proposed to decrease from $2.04 to $1.70 (including GST) and the average Work Account Levy (paid by employers and the self employed) is proposed to decrease from $1.47 to $1.15 (excluding GST) per $100 of liable earnings from 1 April 2012.
Work levies for individual companies depend on their industry classification and experience rating.
Submissions and comments on the proposed levies are to be made by 15 August to enable ACC’s Board to make its final recommendations to the Government.
Final levies for 2012/13 will be determined in September.
5 Comments
I am sure registered motorbikes account for very little of motorcyle related ACC claims. ACC needs to start levying Motorcross bikes and offroad vehicles that are not registered for road use. Accidents involving these bikes account for much of motorbike related ACC claims. A powerful engine has no place between the thighs of an idiot.
I think all acc levies should be aligned to the license holder and related to the classes you hold on your license. I dont have two arses so I cant ride two motorcycles at time yet I have three bikes and have to pay acc on all three. It is very frustrating because the risk is not increased based on the number of Motorcyclist on the road, it is directly relate to the number of people licensed to ride them. And dont get me started on the accident causes,,, the most common recorded statement in motorcycle accidents is "I didnt see him" [the motorcyclist] before I failed to give way by pulling out in front of him and providing a nice car door to smash into..grrr
That's true ergo, bur who's to say you don't have two sons that wouldn't be riding the other two, you know what I mean. It's a tough one to control and I'm not saying it is the case but there will always be someone to drive their bike (or car, still need more than one arse!) through a gaping loophole that scenario would create.
Grizz has the perfect answer. I agree, I'm sure the emergency wards see more off-road accidents than on-road. Wonder what those stat are?
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