The government is considering setting up an independent body to determine standard prices as a basis for the tax. This is revealed in a press release today. The government has proposed using standard prices to calculate the ground rent tax the companies must pay. – It has been clear all along that the price must be real and reflect an independent market price. In order for the ground rent tax to work as intended, it must apply to the surplus in the industry. A standard price must take account of quality differences and sizes on the counter. It has never been the government’s intention that all salmon should be fixed at one price, as individual players have tried to present in the debate in recent times, says Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum in the press release. Norm price Norm price is a price for petroleum set by the Norwegian authorities for use in the tax equation and when calculating production duty. The standard price must correspond to what petroleum could have been traded for between independent parties in a free market. Source: SNL Didn’t want to meet At 10 o’clock today, Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum (Sp) and Fisheries and Oceans Minister Bjørnar Skjæran invited the five largest aquaculture companies to a meeting about the controversial ground rent tax. The meeting is a so-called input meeting. But on Thursday afternoon the companies announced that they would not meet. They would rather send the trade organizations Seafood Norway and Seafood Companies. – They were invited to a meeting about a proposal that affects the entire industry. Thus, it is natural that it is precisely the industry organizations that meet. The five largest companies are represented through us, said CEO of Sjømat Noreg Geir Ove Ystmark to news yesterday. Disappointed Vedum Vedum stated on Thursday that he was disappointed that the company will cancel the meeting with the government. – 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 told NTB. Minister of Finance Trygve Slagsvold Vedum. Photo: Rune Stoltz Bertinussen / NTB It was also heated when salmon billionaire Gustav Witzøe met Vedum in the Debate yesterday. Witzøe believes Vedum had promised him that there would be no ground rent tax. – A betrayal, said Witzøe about Vedum’s promise. 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 they actually sell the fish for, the company could have avoided 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 issues of contention between the industry and the governing authorities. According to what news receives, the government will be open to including several 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. Want Icelandic levy Sjømat Noreg would rather the government look at Iceland’s levy system for salmon than introduce a ground rent tax. – This is a complicated industry. A surplus-based ground rent tax model in particular has a problem, roughly how you set it up. There are other models such as production taxes, says managing director Geir Ove Ystmark in Sjømat Noreg to NTB on the way to a meeting in the Ministry of Finance. Ystmark refers to an Icelandic model for production tax which he believes is well proven. The company already pays production tax, which largely benefits the aquaculture municipalities. But the government also wants to introduce land rent tax.
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The government is considering establishing an independent body to set standard prices – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
