$13,000 per hectare tax

The Government seems to have or want a jihad against the forestry sector. Their refusal to let forest owners get any benefits of carbon credits (in contrast to passing on the costs of carbon debits) predictably has seen significant deforestation at a time when we want the opposite.

Now it is toying with a $13,000 per hectare tax on anyone who converts forestry land to agriculture. Now guess what that will do? See people cut their forests down as quickly as possible before the tax comes in. And even after the tax comes in, then you may just have forest owners let the forests rot, rather than pay the tax for logging and not replanting.

The NZ Herald editorial call for a carrot not a stick approach to forestry. Indeed.