Top Norwegian firms attack tax plan
TWO of Norway’s leading salmon farming companies have joined the growing chorus condemning government plans for a new tax on the seafood sector.
Following publication of its recent first quarter results, Lerøy Seafood said the reports were leading to increased uncertainty.
And Alf-Helge Aarskog, CEO of Marine Harvest, told the business news website E24. no that any proposal that led to increased costs was not good for the industry. He pointed out that aquaculture costs had risen significantly in recently years, largely due to overcoming environmental challenges such as sea lice.
Shares in Norwegian aquaculture companies fell sharply on the Oslo Stock Exchange recently, following reports that the Norwegian government is considering a new tax on the industry, although they later recovered.
The left wing Socialist Left, or SV, party has already called for an oil industry style levy on fish farming companies, in which they are charged by the kilo they produce.
While this proposal is likely to be rejected, the current right of centre government has said it is looking at plans to impose a special tax – despite strong opposition from within the government in the shape of Norway’s fisheries minister, Per Sandberg.
‘Farmers in Norway are charged more than enough taxes as it is,’ he said.
‘Politicians appear to be blinded by high salmon prices and huge surpluses. This is a tax I do not want to see.’