NEW ZEALAND PROPOSES A TAX ON COW BURPS OR FARTS

 Farting is as natural as anything else. It is still funny if you fart in public . It becomes troublesome if you fart at dinner table. No one however is taxed for this. But, if you are a dairy cattle - a cow or a sheep in New Zealand and burp or urinate fluently your owner will have to pay a hefty sum. If you are human you can still go scotfree.

In a controversial move Jacinda Ardern has proposed a tax on cow burps in order to cut methane emissions from farm and on cow urination in order to cut nitrous oxide emissions. The owner of cattles will be taxed and the ammount thus received would be reinvested in cleaner farming technologies. This proposal is in line with New Zealand's commitment to Carbon Neutrality by 2050. The country has taken a serious note of greenhouse gas emissions of agricultural sector.

The farmer lobby is an influential constituency in the country and this will definitely be a decisive factor next year when New Zealand goes to polls. Jacinda Ardern's Labor Party has been on decline in terms of popularity ranking. But being a strong leader she won't be hesitating in pushing her plans for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The lobby has severely criticized the plan saying it might compel the farmers to sell their farms or plant trees instead of crops and cattle rearing. The lobby also warned that it would severely affect farm production and agricultural productions would shift to less developed countries with bad farm practices.

New Zealand is home to nearly 5 Million humans and approximately 40 Million animals ( Cows, Sheep & other Cattles). It would be curious to see the plan to succeed. This would certainly become a poll plank and would be a tool for opposition National Party and Conservative Party to utilize against the ruling Labor Party.

Whatever happens there is no denying that the country appears serious to fight Climate Change.