Showing posts with label stealth tax. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stealth tax. Show all posts

Wednesday, 27 November 2013

The stealth tax that says to hell with North Sea cod stocks

Through the government body Seafish, the public is paying lobbyists to torpedo a campaign to protect the natural world

It's a stealth tax about which the government has kept very quiet. When you hear the details, you will know why. I doubt whether one in a thousand people is aware that it exists. Every time you buy fish in the UK, you pay a fee to support an organisation which opposes campaigns to protect fish stocks and marine ecosystems.

Seafish – its full name is the Seafish Industry Authority – says two things about itself: it "represents the UK seafood industry" and it's a "government body". You might wonder how it could be both, especially when it answers to a government that boasts about its free-market credentials. Why is an industry lobby group sponsored by the Westminster government (as well as the UK's three other national governments) and funded by a compulsory consumption tax?


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