Norway’s government has said it wants to study and eventually recommend a base-rate tax for aquaculture instead of the per-kilogram “salmon royalty” proposed weeks ago by a party not in the ruling coalition.
A levy on exported whole fish had also proposed, but like the others, the government felt it would make investments and production unprofitable. Instead, a base-rate tax on concessions — both existing and the new growth allotments being auctioned — would, the government said, best serve the commons.
The government said it was already working on the new tax, which also affects trout concessions, and it hopes to have it in place by 2020. The new tax, it said, was being modelled on the Norwegian tax regime in place for small-scale hydro-power plant owners.
That seems to mean that Oslo will tax gross earnings after expenses, although a tax rate is still being looked at.
