Denmark is taxing farmers a $100 burp and poop tax on every cow. It is the first country to hold cows, pigs, and sheep accountable for methane emissions. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, cows produce anywhere from 154 to 164 pounds of methane gas a year.
According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, livestock farming alone contributed around 12% of ‘man-made’ greenhouse gas emissions in 2015.
As of 2030, Danish livestock farmers will be taxed 300 kroner ($43) per ton of carbon dioxide equivalent. The tax will increase to 750 kroner ($108) by 2035. However, because of a 60% income tax deduction, the actual cost per ton will start at 120 kroner ($17.3) and increase to 300 kroner by 2035.
The price is reduced to $17 a cow for the first five years, and they call this a tax break. But is this a tax they have the right to levy? This is a direct attack on dairy and meat.
The World Economic Forum and the UN aim to eliminate it.
Giving money to politicians makes the government bigger, and it is often ineffective. it won’t do a thing for the planet. Just say, “No!” Denmark.
SOME RESISTANCE
New Zealand now has a center-right government and has ditched the upcoming farm animal tax.
In a statement on Tuesday, Peter Kiær, chairman of the Danish farmers’ group Bæredygtigt Landbrug, called the plan bureaucratic and unnecessary.
“We recognize that there is a climate problem, and Danish agriculture will help solve it,” Kiær said. “But we do not believe that this agreement will solve the problems because it will put a stick in the wheel of agriculture’s green investments.”
Kristian Hundeboll is the CEO of DLG Group, a Danish-owned cooperative. It is one of the largest farm supply companies in Europe. He told CNN that the policy would have to coincide with European Union legislation for Danish farmers to stay competitive.
“Neither the climate, agriculture, nor the ancillary industries benefit from Denmark acting unilaterally,” he said.
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