The best thing for extensive farming is to tax land values...

I am auguring that the best subsidy for extensive farming and stop the horrendous condition of feedlot farming would be to stop taxation on wages and put it on the value of land. Also tax inputs like energy and oil at a rate that reflects their environmental damage.

This would rebalance the economic issues in modern farming practices and allow extensive farmers to compete on a level playing field against the foodlot farms.

A land value tax relief would be given to those in ELS and other Agri environment schemes

Our present taxation system rewards those who favour capital investment in machines and high level of chemicals and energy while it punishes those farming systems that use a lot of labour as labour is taxed disproportionally.

A farmer could buy a new machine that he can offset his own taxation against and Vat. He does not pay the environmental costs on the fuel he uses or the chemicals. So when he makes an investment decision he rationally would favour machinery and chemical use against employing another person and moving to less intensive use of the land.



If the farmer did not have to pay employers NI, NI and income tax for his workers, if he could not offset asset purchases against his own income tax and if he had to pay the real cost of chemicals and fuel he would rationally move to a less intensive system.

Most people are very rational and it is taxation that is the most important factor in our rational decision making. That is why I think the we can never promote extensive grazing properly until tax is reformed.

I also think if the taxation system was reformed it would make farming more attractive to younger people and offer more quality rural jobs.

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