Norway: Salmon’s big guns unite to condemn new tax plan

Norway’s biggest salmon farmers have come out almost unanimously to condemn the Oslo government’s revised “salmon tax” plans. Despite the basic rate of the proposed “ground rent” tax being reduced from 40% to 35% and companies being given a NOK 70 million allowance (around £5.5m) before the tax kicks in, the producers have declared the final plan will seriously damage the industry by hitting future investment, eventually damaging the country as a whole. The tax would be levied, on top of existing corporation tax, on sales of salmon. The taxable amount would be calculated with reference to a spot market price, rather than the price actually achieved by the producer. Some in the industry are now pinning their somewhat slim hopes on the possibility that the proposals will fail to get through the Norwegian parliament, because of differences between the parties. Mowi chairman Ole-Eirik Lerøy told Seafood Norway’s annual conference in Bergen that the government had missed the market ...