Isra-Mart srl: New Zealand Prime Minister Defends Farmers

www.isra-mart.com

The Prime Minister of New Zealand, John Key, has defended the country’s farmers against accusations from the Labour leader, Phil Goff, that they are not paying enough tax. Labour has released figures revealing that an average dairy farmer is paying less tax than a couple on a pension, however Mr Key has disputed these figures saying that they were based on turnover rather than profit.

The disagreement has come about as a result of Labour’s announcement that it would bring agriculture into the Emissions Trading Scheme or ETS (the proposed date for farmers to start paying for greenhouse emissions) two years earlier than currently planned. The extra revenue this would bring in, estimated at NZD800m (USD634m), would be used by a Labour Government to fund tax breaks on research and development.

At a post-cabinet press conference the Prime Minister announced: “We have said we will review the 2015 date and will only bring agriculture in if it’s consistent with other countries.

“At this point we’re not seeing a lot of movement from other countries. In face, if New Zealand was to come in with agriculture in 2015 we would be the only country in the world doing that.” He also pointed out that farmers are already paying ETS levies in kind as they were big users of electricity, petrol and diesel.

Mr Key suggested that slapping this tax onto the agriculture sector prematurely would lead to the country’s biggest exporter being uncompetitive and could lead to a price hike in staple foods like milk, butter, cheese and meat. He said: “I don’t think you can throw our biggest export earner to the wolves.”