– After a long process, we are now ensuring that the Storting adopts the principle of ground rent in aquaculture, says Geir Pollestad in a press release. He is fiscal policy spokesperson for the Center Party and has acted as case manager during the negotiations at the Storting. It is the Labor Party, the Center Party, the Liberal Party and Patient Focus that have now agreed on a basic income tax on aquaculture – colloquially referred to as the “salmon tax”. The government’s own budget partner SV believes the agreement was too bad for them to support it. – This has been a miserable process on the part of the governing parties, where we have been constructive and ready for negotiations, but of course we cannot support an agreement where we do not get approval for our most important priorities, says fiscal policy spokesperson Kari Elisabeth Kaski. According to the press release, the settlement is based on the model the government previously put forward, with the following changes: The effective tax rate is reduced from 35% to 25%. The valuation discount in wealth tax is increased from 50% to 75%. The host municipalities and counties are guaranteed a higher income from the Aquaculture Fund for 2023. In addition, several request proposals are put forward to strengthen the environmental profile and contribute to technology development. Høre: – Messy process The Høre’s financial policy spokesperson Helge Orten calls the whole process “messy”. – The government’s messy process has now reached its provisional end. As SV is not part of the agreement, annual budget negotiations with SV can result in increases in the tax. This does not contribute to predictability for this important industry, he says to news.
ttn-69