Høgre, Venstre and Kristeleg Folkeparti have today abandoned the talks with the government party and SV about ground rent tax on aquaculture. Previously, the FRP and MDG abandoned the negotiations on the new ground rent tax for the aquaculture industry. The government presented an adjusted proposal for the salmon tax to the finance committee at the Storting on Monday. The Center Party’s Geir Pollestad confirms that there has been a breach in the negotiations. – Although Sp and Ap were willing to make major concessions in order to get a broad settlement, we note that we will not get a majority for our draft solution, he says. According to Pollestad, Ap and Sp were willing to lower the tax rate to 30 per cent in an outline for a solution. In addition, the outline includes “a sandwich list” which, in sum, “could save the industry NOK 3-4 billion in taxes if the other parties change their minds”. – The distance is too great news has been in contact with several of the parties who say that the distance is “simply too great”. – It has been a messy process from start to finish, where the government has insisted on introducing the aquaculture tax retroactively and standing on an arrangement we have not agreed on, says fiscal policy spokesperson in Høgre, Helge Orten. MDG: – Drawer over Høgre-sida Lan Marie Berg, parliamentary leader for MDG. – The Right and the Left have turned this into a discussion about whether the tax should be higher or lower than what the government has put forward. We think the basic question the government and the other parties should ask themselves is what kind of aquaculture industry we want in the future. I am disappointed that Høgre-sida has only been preoccupied with protecting the salmon industry from tax, instead of using this opportunity to help fight for a green tax reform for the farming industry. For 20 years, the industry has promised to stop the problem with lice, escape and discharge, but they have not done so. Now should be the time to address it. Kari Elisabeth Kaski, SV – We are taking note of this, and now we will continue the negotiations with the government to get a greener and fairer ground rent tax. This means, among other things, stricter requirements for the environment and sustainability. He says the protests in the last six months “should be a clear signal to restart the process, examine more models and try to gather a broad majority behind a proposal”. – But the governing party has not been willing to move to a large enough extent, he adds. news’s aquaculture survey news, in collaboration with Norstat, has selected nine aquaculture municipalities where we have asked 1,000 voters about their party choice in the municipal elections and their point of view on the government’s proposal for a ground rent tax on aquaculture. The nine municipalities are all located in the counties where the aquaculture industry (fish farming) is largest and most important; Troms and Finnmark, Nordland, Trøndelag, Møre and Romsdal and Vestland. The municipalities in the survey are all among those with the greatest value creation in the aquaculture industry in their county when you look at payments from the aquaculture fund. The largest urban municipalities are not included in the measurement, even though they may have a large share of value creation. Municipalities where Norstat has asked (with the number of respondents in brackets): Hammerfest (161), Senja (211), Steigen (37), Lurøy (27), Nærøysund (139), Frøya (75), Smøla (30), Kinn ( 245), Austevoll (75). The number of respondents depends on the population in the municipality. Nærøysund is one of the new municipalities in Norway after the municipal reform (established on 1 January 2020). The municipality is a merger of the two former municipalities Nærøy and Vikna. The basic interest tax of 40 per cent was introduced on 1 January this year, although the arrangement was not ready. The Government’s final proposal of 35 per cent was presented to the King in the Cabinet in March. It was in September that the government put forward the controversial proposal for ground rent tax on aquaculture and wind power. In the consultation round, 416 responses were received from county councils, businesses, interest organizations and individuals. Seafood Norway: – We are happy Geir Ove Ystmark, director of Seafood Norway – We are happy that KrF, Venstre, Frp and Høgre are taking responsibility and saying clearly that it is not appropriate to support district to government and industry hostile salmon taxes. The government has been clear that they want a broad political settlement in this case. They have not been successful with that. The tax proposal has not been sufficiently paid out and examples are constantly appearing which show that the government is grossly wrong in its claims and assumptions. They missed the proceeds, they missed the bottom collection, they did not listen to the many critical comments in the hearing round, and now it is clear that there is not a broad majority in the Storting to drain coastal Norway of billions of kroner. Last week it became clear that the salmon giant Mowi had a turnover of 1.36 billion euros, or almost NOK 16 billion, in the first quarter. Salmar spent NOK 1.9 billion on operations in the first quarter. – The government has thrown away the opportunity Fiscal policy spokesman in Venstre, Sveinung Rotevatn, says the government “has thrown away the opportunity for a broad settlement”. – We wanted to negotiate further, but the government has put forward a demand that is difficult for us to accept. He adds: – Our demands have been to reduce the total tax burden on the industry, to prevent new taxes from being retroactive and better environmental requirements. Unfortunately, the government has not been willing to meet us, they rather go hand in hand with SV and Raudt. KrF’s fiscal policy spokesperson, Kjell Ingolf Ropstad, believes the process “has stood the test of time” and points out that investments of up to NOK 40 billion are “cased or put on ice”. – It is dramatic that the government has not handled such an important industry in a better way. The proposal has a hard impact on business in the district. The three parties will meet the press at the Storting at 11.30 today. The committee will submit its recommendations on 23 May. The matter will be heard in the Storting on 31 May.
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Breach in the negotiations on the salmon tax – news Vestland
