New Zealand to tax cattle flatulence

New Zealand farmers are angry after the government announced plans to tax the flatulence of their livestock.
Farmers face a levy of up to 25p a head on cattle and 3p on each sheep as part of the government’s policy to combat global warming.
Methane from the animals’ belching from the grass they munch, and nitrous oxide from their dung and urine accounts for more than half of all New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions.
The government will spend the tax it collects from the flatulent animals on researching ways to make them less windy.
Farmers accused the government of a political sleight of hand in making them pay for research after promising the agricultural sector would be exempted from emission charges.
Federated Farmers’ president Tom Lambie complains New Zealand is the only country to impose a levy like this on its farmers.
(Ananova News, PO Box 36, Leeds, LS11 9YJ, United Kingdom)