I’ve got a Johnny Cash song called “After Taxes” playing in my head as I look at the twenty-five or so increased fees, taxes, rates, and charges in the recent 2025-26 ACT Budget. It’s a song about a man dreaming of what he will spend his pay on: he must change his plans once he realises how much the government will take in taxes.

This Budget of “tough decisions” is, according to the new Treasurer Chris Steel, designed to tackle a record deficit that topped $1 billion – a deficit entirely of the Labor Government’s making, which they now expect all of us Canberrans to fund. Labor love launching bright new shiny things, not to mention wasting money, but cannot keep their spending under control.

The money you pay in your rates is meant to cover essential services – like our hospitals, schools, police, and roads. Then on top of our rates, we pay a Fire and Emergency Services Levy, and a Safer Families Levy. The introduction of both levies was clever politically. It is hard to disagree with them, on the basis that it may look like you are not committed to eliminating domestic and family violence, for example.

So, our Treasurer may have expected he would encounter the same lack of political resistance with the proposed new $250 annual health levy on all ratepayers. Instead, it became a lightning rod for criticism, forcing the government into an embarrassing backdown after just five days. Even federal (Labor) Health Minister Mark Butler refused to endorse the health levy, which was slashed to $100 after pressure from the ACT Greens, exposing the government’s political vulnerability in a minority parliament, with additional payroll tax revenue expected to make up the shortfall over the forward estimates.

Some feel the Liberals missed the opportunity to negotiate on the Health Levy. But don’t forget the Liberals’ ideology is lower taxes and rates – even a reduction in the proposed levy is still an increase.

Providing Health is important – and expensive. According to my latest rates notice (July 2025) 32% or $2.6 billion of rates revenue goes towards Health, the largest portion of the Budget. The Budget papers say that will go up to 33% this year – still not the 36% the Treasurer allegedly quoted.

Other unwelcome news this Budget: public transport fares rise; concessions reduced, the Rent Relief Fund has ended, and the controversial introduction of an $11 fee for Working with Vulnerable People (WWVP) checks. Well done to Volunteering ACT and others, including the Canberra Liberals for strong, quick opposition to that.

Whatever happened to Andrew Barr’s observation after the election that he could see people were struggling with the cost of living? As Opposition Leader Leanne Castley said, “This is not a budget that’s going to help Canberrans.”

This Budget may be remembered not for its fiscal reforms, but for the community anger it triggered and the fact that the Greens have finally shed the shackles of sharing government, and along with the Liberals, are actually providing opposition.

For further discussion on this topic, head to Bite-sized politics (around 15 minutes easy listening) on Spotify.