Feds make case for rural bank lending probe
Bankers have been making record profits in the last few years, but those aren’t the only records they’ve been breaking, says Federated Farmers vice president Richard McIntyre.
Forget about a trifecta of looming taxes, it’s a "pick six", says Federated Farmers Dairy chairman Chris Lewis.
He says opposition parties propose to slap six new taxes on farmers: land tax, capital gains tax, carbon tax, water tax, nitrogen tax and inheritance tax.
“I’m not a TAB betting man but we aren’t just facing a trifecta of taxes; it’s clearly a pick six,” he told Rural News online.
He was commenting on DairyNZ saying the Greens and Labour policymakers want to hit dairy farmers with a trifecta of environmental taxes that could average $18,000 per year for each farm.
And the cost to farmers who draw water for irrigation would exceed $63,000 per year, says DairyNZ chief executive Tim Mackle.
“But unlike winning the trifecta at the horse races, there’s nothing for NZ dairy farmers to celebrate,” says Mackle.
“Our economists calculate that the proposed carbon tax would add an average of $6850 to each farm’s costs, the nitrogen pollution tax would add $11,232 per farm, and then there’s Labour’s proposed water use tax which would add a further $45,000 average for farms irrigating.”
Of NZ’s 12,000 dairy herds, 2000 use irrigation.
“The tax trifecta would severely reduce dairy farm profitability, and possibly demand extra borrowing for some farmers to meet expenditure. It would impact the success of our rural economy and put at risk the livelihood of our rural communities.”
Lewis says the Greens and Labour are trying to tax farmers out of their livelihoods. He recently saw Waikato farmers angry about the proposed taxes.
“Farmers realise these opposition parties are using these taxes to leverage more support from urban voters.”
Lewis says Greens and Labour leaders told the Feds annual conference three months ago in Wellington that they would work with farmers and there “wouldn’t be a Punch and Judy show”.
“Those words meant nothing,” says Lewis.
Recent years have seen farmers doing a lot to improve water quality and riparian planting, he says.
“We know that like any industry we still have a couple of cowboys, but their number is getting less and less.”
South Waikato farm manager Ben Purua’s amazing transformation from gang life to milking cows was rewarded with the Ahuwhenua Young Maori Farmer award last night.
Bankers have been making record profits in the last few years, but those aren’t the only records they’ve been breaking, says Federated Farmers vice president Richard McIntyre.
The 2023-24 season has been a roller coaster ride for Waikato dairy farmers, according to Federated Farmers dairy section chair, Mathew Zonderop.
Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) director general Ray Smith says job cuts announced this morning will not impact the way the Ministry is organised or merge business units.
Scales Corporation is acquiring a number of orchard assets from Bostock Group.
Family and solidarity shone through at the 75 years of Ferdon sale in Otorohanga last month.
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