cow farts taxed at source

Friday 20 June, 2003 at 5:06PM (Nereus) :: permalink :: comments (4)

cow fart Heh yup it's true. This article from the New Zealand Herald was emailed to me by Mike (thanks dude). Apparently farmers will be taxed on the flatulence of their livestock in a bid to reduce New Zealand's contribution to global warming. The levy could cost a typical family farmer up to $300 a year, larger corporate farmers could pay up to $10,000. Sheep will be levied at 9c each and cows at up to 72c under the Government's proposals. Deer and goat farmers will also be taxed. Livestock accounts for about half of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions apparently.

Following this logic, I guess that means cows fart and burp at exactly 8 times the rate of sheep? What sort of sicko went out and measured it? The second thought is, how the hell do you stop a cow from farting anyway? When ya gotta go, ya gotta go, y'know?

In an effort not to look entirely ridiculous, the NZ Government will also introduce an emissions tax for other industries in 2007. The livestock tax comes into effect mid-2004.

comments (4)

eric.s
June 20, 2003 5:57 PM [link]

What's next? "We're talking about a lot of money here sir. Yesterday you ate in a Thai restaurant and today I catch you with a plate full of chili"

Nereus
June 20, 2003 8:06 PM [link]

LOL :)

Putty Girl
June 20, 2003 10:41 PM [link]

That actually is pretty scarey, but at the same time funny. My grandfather used to talk about lighting a horse's farts. Don't ask how he came to do this because I don't really know and never had the courage to ask, but maybe the government would find it more productive to find some way to ignite them, or keep them as a source of methane fuel? hahahahaha... you can laugh now.

Nereus
June 21, 2003 12:06 PM [link]

I tried visualizing that one.. LOL!

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