Government in retreat over stock-gas tax

The controversial flatulence tax appears to be on its last legs, with the Government poised to relent after a rural revolt.

But at a heated public meeting in Invercargill yesterday, Science Minister Pete Hodgson insisted that the rural sector somehow had to pay for research to reduce on-farm methane emissions.

After the meeting Mr Hodgson confirmed that farmers would be given another opportunity to work out an alternative to the planned compulsory research levy.

One option touted was to increase voluntary contributions to existing scientific research.

Opposition parties said yesterday that the Government backdown was a rearguard attempt to avoid a mass march on Parliament by farmers next Thursday.

About 150 farmers attended yesterday's meeting at the Invercargill Workingmen's Club to listen to Mr Hodgson's explanation of the $8 million annual levy.

The levy would cost farmers about 9c for each mature sheep, 54c for each mature beef animal and 72c for each dairy cow to fund the emissions research.

Mr Hodgson pleaded to be heard amid a chorus of heckles and jeers.

He said about half of New Zealand's greenhouse gases came from methane emissions and farmers needed to pay their share towards Kyoto Protocol responsibilities.

New Zealand's primary economy would gain vast benefit from Kyoto, because farming relied on a steady climate, he said.

Mr Hodgson then submitted to a question-and-answer session. Farmers grilled him for more than an hour.

Deer farmer Lloyd Thayer asked what certainty there was with the research. "There is no guarantee in research," Mr Hodgson replied, but "the gains almost certainly will flow to the farmer's bottom line."

After the meeting, Federated Farmers Southland president Don Nicolson said the Government was lynching itself by alienating rural New Zealand.

National Party leader and Clutha-Southland MP Bill English said the Government had finally realised how angry farmers were.

A rally of 1500 farmers in Invercargill last Saturday had played a big part in the backdown, Mr English said.

Farmers needed to keep the pressure on to force the Government to abandon the policy, he said.

The Act Party's rural affairs spokesman, Gerry Eckhoff, predicted on Thursday that the Government was likely to back down on the tax.

He emerged from his party's "anti-fart-tax" bus in Blenheim with Gertrude the cow, to argue the case against the levy.

"I think the Government has already indicated that they want out, but they don't want to lose face," he said.

Mr Eckhoff said the focus of Act's three-week anti-fart-tax national tour had been "small-town New Zealand, rural New Zealand", and the response had been "outstanding".

"Labour has badly underestimated the depth of anger that exists over this discriminatory tax.

"Its focus group polling has let it down."

Mr Eckhoff said no country in the world had imposed a tax of this nature on its livestock, and New Zealand was at risk of punishing its main exporters and killing their competitive edge.

Although the tax itself was not huge, it was the last straw in a pile of compliance costs being dumped on farmers.

"It is that $500 on top of $1000 on top of $5000. It is the cumulative effect of levies and of taxes."

Mr Eckhoff said support for the anti-fart-tax tour had also been coming from small business owners "that recognise the red tape and bureaucracy and compliance costs. This fart tax has struck them as well".

At last week's Marlborough Federated Farmers provincial meeting the executive decided to further support fart tax protests by putting up billboards throughout Marlborough.

Those posters are expected to go up within the next week.

- NZPA