Qld Flood Levy - Fair?

Yesterday Julia Gillard announced a levy to be imposed on taxpayers to contribute towards the Qld Flood disaster.  The levy will be means tested and will be applied as follows:-

Taxable Income Below $50,000 - nil
Taxable Income $50,000 - $100,000 - 0.5% additional tax
Taxable Income $100,000+ - 1% additional tax

The Government has a reserve of around $5 Billion for natural disasters, increasing to $11 billion next year - so if this isn't enought, why not cut spending on other areas of the budget such as foreign aid?

Chatting about this last night, my sister was all for the levy if it was to help those who have lost everything.  The levy, however, is going to be used to build infrastructure, not rebuilding homes and lives of those individually impacted.

So is it fair? 

Personally, I don't think it is.  In SA, we are already paying higher state taxes.  Under our federal income tax system, we are one of the highest taxed countries in the world.  As individuals, many of us have donated heavily over the last few weeks to the people who have lost everything.  We have recently come out of a GFC with retirement savings taking a beating causing many Australians to go back to work because they simply can't afford to retire. And last, over the last 12 months we have seen a squeeze on individual budgets as the RBA lifted interest rates four times to its current 4.75 per cent.

What do you think?