New Zealand’s government on Tuesday proposed a tax on the greenhouse gases created by farm animals’ burps and urine in an attempt to tackle climate change in the country, NPR reported.
Federated Farmers President Andrew Hoggard blasted the plan for unfairly burdening farmers in the country, despite the industry’s years-long effort to work with the New Zealand government.
“Our plan was to keep farmers farming,” Hoggard said, adding that the new plan would “rip the guts out of small-town New Zealand.” (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Pro-Life Org Partners With Medical Group On App To Ensure Hospitals Can’t Deny Critical End-Of-Life Care)
The conservative New Zealand ACT Party argues that the policy would result in more farming being done overseas, actually increasing worldwide emissions.
The government claims the tax could be offset by farmers charging higher prices for what they produce.
New Zealand’s government wants to tax the greenhouse gasses created by livestock as part of a plan to tackle climate change. Farmers aren’t pleased. https://t.co/8rlO1Bca1d
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 11, 2022
Agriculture accounts for about 5% of New Zealand’s GDP, some $10.6 billion. Forty-four percent of New Zealand farms are classified as “sheep and beef.”
In 2019, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “Green New Deal,” infamously sought to penalize cow farts.
“We set a goal to get to net-zero, rather than zero emissions, in 10 years because we aren’t sure that we’ll be able to fully get rid of farting cows and airplanes that fast,” an initial version of the resolution’s fact sheet read.