There is a heated dispute between the salmon industry and the government. On Friday, the five largest farming companies were invited to a meeting at Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum’s (Sp) office. But they have now refused. Instead, they send the trade organizations Seafood Norway and Seafood Companies. Vedum is disappointed that the companies choose to cancel the meeting with the government. Now he hopes they will turn around. – I think it is stupid and surprising that the companies do not want the meeting and would rather send someone to do the lobbying for them, he says to NTB. The salmon tax will also be the topic of news Debate tonight at 9.20pm. There, the aquaculture industry will meet the government for a debate. Follow along on news.no or NRK1. Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum (Sp) is disappointed that the five largest farming companies have refused to meet him on Friday. Photo: Rune Stoltz Bertinussen / NTB Several issues of contention One of the challenges when the authorities have to determine the basis for the salmon tax is that the same group often operates both farming and processing. If a salmon group were to be taxed on the price it actually sells the fish for, the company could have escaped much of the tax by selling the salmon cheaply to itself. To counteract this, the Ministry of Finance wants the salmon to be valued at a so-called standard price when it moves from farming to processing. But how should this price be set? It is one of the contentious issues between the industry and the authorities. After news receives information, the government must be open to including more elements in the price setting. news is not aware of how large or extensive the changes may be, or whether any adjustments will be presented as early as Friday. – Real income Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum (Sp) received many questions about the salmon tax when he visited the Storting on Wednesday. – What do you say to those who assume that the government will move away from this with a standard price? – There will be ground rent tax. The big companies must contribute more back to the coastal communities. We must bring in more income there. So we have been clear all along that the tax base should be as correct as possible, said Vedum to news. PROPOSAL: The salmon companies’ real income should be used as the basis for ground rent tax, according to Finance Minister Vedum. Photo: Ole Berg-Rusten / NTB He says the salmon companies’ real income should be used as a basis. – Now some people want to portray it as being taxed on a completely different basis than the real income. But it is the real income that is the whole objective, and that is quite natural, he says. – Does that mean that the standard price does not have to be the target to which these incomes are linked? – Here it is a point that the real income should be discussed. The farming companies must then contribute more back to the community. This is what the government says about the standard price In its consultation proposal, the government describes various ways of calculating a standard price, which should be an alternative to the actual selling price. The government refers to the Aquaculture Tax Committee’s report, where it is pointed out that stock exchange prices for salmon on the Nasdaq index are best suited as a standard price. The reason is that these exchange prices are arranged according to weight classes. (Source: Høringsnotat regjeringen.no) Explanation Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Ap) was challenged about the standard price by Conservative Party leader Erna Solberg during question time at the Storting on Wednesday. – Will the government consider changing the standard price system now, so that we do not actually destroy our own established markets? Solberg asked. Støre responded by pointing out that the proposal for a salmon tax is out for consultation and said the government will take the input from there into account in further work. – We will provide a system that values the fish based on what it is worth: the quality it has, the size it has. The meeting we will have on Friday between the Minister of Finance and the industry will clear up a lot about that, replied Støre. SALMON TAX: There was a round about the new basic income tax when Conservative Party leader Erna Solberg met Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Ap) in question time on Wednesday. Photo: Ole Berg-Rusten / NTB Afterwards, he added to news that he was pleased that the Conservative Party now supports the introduction of a ground rent tax for the aquaculture industry. The proposal for the new ground rent tax states that income and investments are taxed continuously in the year they are earned/incurred. “Income from salmon is determined on the basis of a standard price. The standard price is determined on the basis of market prices for salmon. Revenues from trout and rainbow trout are based on actual sales prices.” The question now is whether elements other than the stock exchange price can also be brought into the pricing. Fears erosion In the conflict with the seafood industry over the tax, the government has defended itself by saying that the principle of ground rent tax on aquaculture has been thoroughly investigated. A few years ago, economics professor Karen Helene Ulltveit-Moe led extensive work on such a proposal. However, the report was shelved. Ulltveit-Moe, who has been active in the debate about the new salmon tax, says the standard price is an essential element. – If you don’t get that principle in place, it will erode the entire tax base, she says to Klassekampen. Like the Ministry of Finance, she believes that if the tax is based on the price the farming companies actually sell for, it could lead to “tax-motivated adjustment”. Ulltveit-Moe believes it is absolutely certain that the companies, which often engage in both farming and processing of the fish, will do this through transfer pricing. INVESTIGATED: A few years ago, economics professor Karen Helene Ulltveit-Moe led a wide-ranging work on ground rent tax on aquaculture. Photo: Gorm Kallestad / NTB The Ministry writes in its proposal that “standard prices give less opportunity for tax-motivated adjustment than actual prices”. It therefore proposes that ground rent income for salmon be determined at standard prices based on stock exchange prices on Nasdaq. Business policy manager Peder Weidemann Egseth in Sjømat Norge, however, tells Klassekampen that there is no reason to “indirectly question the tax morals of the aquaculture industry”. He warns against a standard price based on “exchange prices that jump up and down”, while the industry deals with long-term fixed price contracts. The proposal the government put forward on 28 September has been thoroughly considered and worked on, according to what news is informed. The principles of correct taxation, that the smallest companies should be protected through a floor deduction and that affected municipalities should be left with at least as much as before, are therefore fixed. But also the bottom deduction and how much of the cake the municipalities will be left with has put the seafood industry on a collision course with the government. The proposal from the government is now on consultation until 4 January next year. The government must then, after considering the consultation input, return to the Storting with a concrete proposal.
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