The eco-friendly tax scheme faces opposition from local farmers groups.
The government of New Zealand has proposed a plan to tax greenhouse gasses created by farm animals, hoping to slash carbon emissions as part of a decades-long climate change initiative, despite vocal criticism from agricultural organizations.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the proposal on Tuesday morning, saying the plan is the first of its kind ever attempted and would put New Zealand on track to hit its targets for reducing methane emissions over the next decade.
“No other country in the world has yet developed a system for pricing and reducing agricultural emissions, so our farmers are set to benefit from being first movers,” she said, adding that “Cutting emissions will help New Zealand farmers to not only be the best in the world but the best for the world.”
Under the proposal, farmers who meet thresholds for herd size and fertilizer use would be required to pay a fee for methane and nitrous oxide gasses created by their cattle – earning the scheme the unceremonious, though somewhat misleading, title of ‘fart tax’ (most methane from cows is released in the form of burps).
If the plan secures final approval by the end of the year, the tax payments would begin in 2025 and be levied every one to three years. Exact amounts have yet to be determined.
According to the government, revenues generated by the taxes would be devoted to research and development for green technologies, as well as “incentive payments” for farmers who take up eco-friendly practices.
The scheme is part of a longer-term goal to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, but has already faced condemnation from local farmers groups and opposition lawmakers.
Federated Farmers, a major lobbying group, said the tax proposal would “rip the guts out of small-town New Zealand,” and put “trees where farms used to be.”
“Federated Farmers is deeply unimpressed with the government’s take on the … proposal and is concerned for our members’ futures,” the group’s national president, Andrew Hoggard, said.
Beef and Lamb New Zealand and DairyNZ also voiced concerns, with the latter organization saying that while Tuesday’s announcement was “another step” toward a new system, there was still much to do to “get it right” for farmers.
Given that nearly half of New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions are linked to its agricultural sector – which boasts some 10 million cattle and 26 million sheep – similar ‘fart tax’ proposals have been floated in the past. An initiative in 2003 met major resistance from farmers across the country, however, prompting a massive protest which saw hundreds gather in the streets of Wellington, some bringing along their cows and tractors.
More recently, farmers in the Netherlands staged large demonstrations to protest similar emission taxes, blockading a number of supermarket warehouses while facing off with police. Those protests have continued, with several farmers arrested last month after parking six tractors on a street in The Hague and refusing to leave.
???? ???? ????No tax of horse farts? ???? ???? ???? That is NOT fair.????????????
They’ll be strapping a meter on our asses next, you watch…..
I cannot believe how THICK this Labour Govt is entertaining such a bloody stupid idea. Cows, pigs and people have been farting for a very long time. In fact many thousands of years. Methane comes and goes, ozone holes grow and recede. Rain wind, and snow comes and goes. Cows and people pass wind. And all of a sudden our future hangs in the balance because of it..? Give me a break. The Inconvenient Truth is that the weather hasn’t changed for thousands of years. And it is not going to now. Get over it..! And get a life. ????
It makes sense once you see it for what it really is. It has nothing to do with the weather, or “carbon emissions” or a “nitrogen crisis” or any other big-worded fake issue none of them actually believe in. It’s all just a cover story, an excuse for their beloved new TAX regime.
These people don’t start off around a boardroom table in Davos saying, “wow this climate change is really bad, I think we need to introduce a new global tax scheme to fight it” (total nonsense anyway when you think about it).
No, it starts with them around a table saying, “we need a way to introduce these awesome new taxes where the public would be receptive and willing to accept it. Let’s get our media to put out a story that there’s a cow fart crisis…”
Once you have a global tax system in place (which is what the emissions trading SCHEME really is), complete with surplus credits that can be offset against future overruns or freely traded with other entities, you’ll obviously need some kind of a centralised GLOBAL authority to MANAGE that regime to ensure it isn’t skirted or defrauded.
And poof, just like that you’ve got an unelected global government funded through a tax regime you weren’t consulted on and didn’t vote for. It’s like the EU, but on a worldwide scale. After a while they will become the de facto authority all prime ministers and presidents bow to (hell, they basically already are), amending and removing all those pesky constitutions and sovereign Bills of rights etc they find inconvenient. It will be the same authoritarianism bullshit we saw during the lockdowns, just cranked up to 11 and lasting basically forever.
Step out of line and they’ll starve you, post your frustrations online and the jackbooted thugs will be around to beat you with sticks, mace you and put the whole thing up on youtube as a warning to others.
This is the “better” they’re trying to build back.
Never before has the word “scheme” been more appropriate.
Let’s see, they already tax our income, our purchases, our properties, our inheritances, our fuel, our food and water. But that’s still not enough you see, now they’ve finally worked the angles to literally tax the very air we breathe.
As has already been shown in other parts of the world, food supply will decrease, prices will increase. The economy will shrink while the government exponentially expands. A big fat gravy train of government tenders for new “emissions friendly” tech and infrastructure to go to all the politicians’ spouses, brothers, cousins and in laws. All while the common man they no longer fear or respect gets to watch his children go hungry as the power cuts out. This is the shitty future we’re all expected to aspire to.
I can’t wait to hear National and ACT come out strongly against this (they won’t).
Mr Ed needs to go
This is all part of WEF/Reset agenda. The agenda includes pumping mRNA jabs, destruction of farming as we know it, eating insects and maggots, natural milk replaced some vomit made in a lab,……. And massive govt censorship on freedom.
Jabsinister will keep going until this horse is put to pasture
A topical article on animal methane appears here:
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/10/11/3-myths-debunked-animal-agricultures-real-impact-on-the-environment/
Methane onlya last 10 years in the atmosphere so the only affects will be the result of small population changes 10 years out. Essentially no change.
If the govt was to import a shipload of brains that would be helpful.
Drongo outfit. Anyone voting for these idiots next election needs a swift metaphorical kick in the proverbial’s..As if food prices are not already awful enough after their other flight of fancy, the scam-demic….I’ll be voting for the NZ Freedom party myself….only one with any brains left….
There are no elections anymore bro. The guys you like might win the odd local council seat or mayoral race here and there, but everywhere that actually COUNTS for something, forget about it…
The candidates all serve the same master, the ballots are all counted behind closed doors and away from our prying eyes, and we rely on the media (the MEDIA for God’s sake) to honestly tell us the results.
It’s about as real as WWE
If Adern shut her mouth that would go a long way toward fart emissions.
This is straight out of the Agenda 21 play-book.
Dont you worry. Big Pharma is working on a jab to reduce farts. JabSinDa will mandate jabbing cows, except horses ????????????, soon but it wont be free, It is going to cost each farmer, and cows must be jabbed every six months to reduce the farts. ????????????????
Pfizer CEO is a veterinarian remember; he will come up with something mRNA based and our Government “will follow the science” in a “safe and effective” way and keep our national pride of using the cutting edge technology at the global level. Follow the ????????????.
STUFF will be asking for a new “Export Interest Journalism” funding to create public awareness on the dangers of cows and sheeps farting. ????????????. Media mercenary pigs fart too much because of the funding they gulped, but that does not count towards global warming.????????????????
The next UN address by JabSinDa will entirely focus on cows farting and why the Big Tech should play a censorship role to stop the mis/disinformation on climate change due to farts. Greens ???????????? will demand a new portfolio in the government to deal with farting animals. This will be claimed as the red line for Greens joining Labour in any future government. They also have a plan to ban beer ???????????? consumption because it can lead to farting and burbing but the green party members view that kiwis are not ready for it yet.
What a wonderful world we are going to create in the future? ????☠️ ????☠️ ????☠️
About time we taxed the Sh1t and lies that come out of the politicians mouths. We will turn this economy around in no time!
Science is complicated ???? and so we have to ask “expert” Baker???? or “the” horse????. It has been just found that cow farts, burps and dung ???? methane has an effect on the mental health of kiwis who are very depressed about the climate change impact on their life. In order to remove their anxiety, and provide mental health support, fart tax is needed.⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️
I read this on STOOF news for ???????????????????????? but cant seem to find the link now⬆️????