– It was completely quiet when the numbers came in, and then the cheers broke out. Now we are very happy with the whole team who have stood by and worked for the past few weeks, says Kristin Strømskag (H). Strømskag is mayor of Frøya municipality in Trøndelag. After the preliminary votes have been counted, it can be seen that the Conservative Party in Frøya has had an increase of 28.8 percentage points since the election in 2019. Before the election campaign, it became clear that the ground rent tax would be one of the important issues in coastal municipalities such as Frøya. – The right’s progress in Frøya was expected. Conservative mayor Kristin Strømskag has been one of the strongest voices in the fight against the ground rent tax for the aquaculture industry, says political commentator on news, Linda Bjørgan. Bjørgan says that the Conservative Party has also made a good choice in the farming municipalities of Hitra and Flatanger. Blue wind over the coast Strømskag says they had envisioned progress, but that this progress exceeded all expectations. But the mayor says that they see that there is a blue wind blowing across the coast. – There are many who think that the distance between Oslo and Frøya has become too long. I think this is a combination of a good job locally and a bit of help from the government. Frøya is one of the country’s largest aquaculture municipalities and here the opposition to the new tax has been strong. Facts about ground rent tax Ground rent tax is paid from income you get by exploiting the community’s natural resources, such as water, wind and sea. Comes from the English expression “ground rent”, i.e. ground rent or land rent. When a wind farm has been set up in a mountain area or a salmon farm has been built in a fjord, the area is not freely accessible to others. Access to natural resources is limited, and this limits competition. This makes it easier to get extraordinarily high incomes in industries that utilize natural resources. Basic interest tax must be paid on income the companies receive in excess of what they can normally expect from their own investments and work effort, as a result of this benefit. Basic interest tax is also called super profit. (Source: NTB) – It is quite rare that national politics hits a local community as hard as it did last autumn when the government introduced the ground rent tax. Strømskag says that they will be spokespersons to point out the negative consequences of the ground rent tax. Heated debate – The polls before the election indicate that the ground rent tax will give the Conservative Party extra votes in this election and Ap and Sp fewer voters, says Bjørgan. She says that there has been a heated debate about the tax on the coast. – The farming industry itself says that they may have to postpone a number of investments and development projects if they have to pay this tax, while others believe that these are empty threats. The right-wing’s progress in Frøya was expected, says political commentator at news, Linda Bjørgan. Photo: Morten Andersen / news Nærøysund is also one of the farming municipalities in Trøndelag. There, the Labor Party has gone back 15.6 per cent since the election in 2019. Based on the advance votes, they are at 22.7 per cent. At the same time, the Progress Party has increased by 7.9 percentage points to 19.4.
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This is how the ground rent tax has affected the municipal and county council elections 2023 – news Trøndelag – Local news, TV and radio
