Environment

New Zealand unveils plan to impose burping taxes on sheep, cows

Sydney, Australia, Oct 11 (EFE).- New Zealand presented Tuesday its pioneering proposal in the world to impose taxes from 2025 on emissions from the belching of sheep and cows of gasses contributing to the greenhouse effect.

The plan, which does not require a collection estimate or specify the taxation measures, will be consulted with farmers until Nov. 18.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Tuesday that all the money raised will be returned to the industry by funding new technology, research and incentives for farmers.

“No other country in the world has yet developed a system to set prices and reduce agricultural emissions, so our farmers will benefit from being the first to act,” she said in a statement.

This measure is due to the efforts of the country, a large agricultural exporter, to combat the effects of the climate crisis and would make it the first in which farmers pay for emissions from livestock.

In New Zealand, a country of 5 million people, almost half of the country’s emissions come from the agricultural sector, mainly from its 26 million sheep and 10 million cows, mammals that expel methane produced during digestion through belching and flatulence.

The proposal, also promoted by the alliance of primary sector associations He Waka Eke Noa, includes incentives for farmers who reduce emissions, which can also be offset by planting forests.

“This is an important step in New Zealand’s transition to a low-emissions future and delivers on our promise to put a price on agricultural emissions from 2025… The proposal allows New Zealand farmers to lead in reducing emissions, provides a competitive advantage and enhances our export brand,” Ardern said.

However, the proposal has not convinced all farmers’ associations, who claim this policy will cause a reduction in the number of cattle and sheep farms in the country.

New Zealand’s Federated Farmers Association, one of the industry’s main lobby groups, responded in a statement that this government project “will wipe out rural New Zealand” and see farms replaced by tree plantations.

“Our plan was to keep farmers farming,” said Andrew Hoggard, president of Federated Farmers, adding that farmers would sell their properties “so fast you won’t even hear the dogs barking in the back of the (truck) while they walk away.”

The agricultural sector accounts for 10 percent of New Zealand’s gross domestic product and 65 percent of export earnings.

The government, whose goal is to achieve neutrality in polluting emissions by 2050, has until the end of the year to decide how it will tax emissions from the agricultural sector. EFE

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