Clarence and Kingborough Mayors have united to speak out over a massive increase in the fire service levy of 18.8 per cent in Clarence and 21 per cent in Kingborough.

Mayors Jock Campbell and Graham Bury said that just days after the Government pledged there would be no increases in state taxes, local government had been forced to wear the odium of a backdoor tax increase.

Under the plan, the fire service levy, which local government is forced to raise by the State Government, will increase by an average of 12.5 per cent across the State.

Mayor Campbell said at a time when councils had worked hard to ensure that rate increases were somewhere in the region of the Consumer Price Index, all would be lost as rate payers would simply look at the bottom line of their rates notice and see significant increases.

"Nobody denies the need for the fire service levy or the fact that our professional and volunteer firefighters do a great job, but there is something very wrong with the system by which it is paid for," Mayor Campbell said.

"Put simply, the fire service levy was a backdoor tax increase and came with no consultation at all.

"I suspect that there was no consultation because the State Government knew local government would be outraged at the increases and the fact that they had to pass it onto consumers, not the State Government."

Mayor Bury said the State Government and the State Fire Service had not provided any explanation or justification for the fire levy increase of 21 per cent in Kingborough.

"Lets be clear that while Councils are required by law to include the fire levy in their rate demands, it is ratepayers who foot the bill and they deserve an explanation for any tax increase, let alone one of this magnitude," Mayor Bury said.

The Mayors put their weight behind the Local Government Association of Tasmania and called on the State Government to reconsider its approach to the fire service levy and the current proposed increases.

"Usually when a Government says it will not increase taxes you would expect that promise to last for more than a day," the Mayors said.