Send tax plan back, Norway’s employers urge parliament

The Norwegian business employers’ organisation NHO says the “ground rent” salmon tax plan should go back to the government for a fresh look.

It made the plea to Norway’s parliament, the Storting, during its finance committee’s open hearing about the tax.

The new tax bill, which mostly affects the larger companies like Mowi and SalMar, is now in force even though it has yet to be approved by the full parliament.

NHO’s Deputy Managing Director Anniken Hauglie, told the hearing: “We have one main message: The bill should be sent back to the government for further investigation. And we request that the tax be postponed until 2024.”

She suggested the government should look at variants of the Faroese model or another profit-based scheme.

“It is important to take a step back to sit down with the industry and find an agreed solution,” she added, while stressing it is important that the Storting can come together on a broad settlement so that uncertainty and unpredictability are avoided further down the line.

However, the Centre Party which shares the government with Labour, has repeatedly rejected any idea of a Faroese system, arguing that it breaks the traditional Norwegian tax model and claiming a majority in parliament want what is being proposed.

Seafood Norway (Sjømat Norge), representing the farming companies, said the government fundamentally lacked an understanding of how the value chain and the farming industry worked.

“It is not about the industry not wanting to pay more in tax, but that the model will not work,” said Seafood Norway board member Line Ellingsen.

She added: “It is about what kind of tax burden we can tolerate. There is a difference between producing fish along a value chain and using up the oil from the North Sea. Oil cannot die from viruses, and oil cannot be moved.”

Line Ellingsen