On March 28, Norway’s government announced it would levy a 35% resource tax on profits from the salmon and trout farming industry, thus sharing the profit that the industry derives from its access to the country’s common resources. The government initially proposed a 40% tax on fish farms last September, but retracted its proposal after fish farm stock prices quickly plummeted (Reuters). The announcement reveals that the government is pressing forward with placing a levy on the fish farming industry, which is one of the country’s largest sources of national income. Norway supplies over half of the salmon consumed globally. In 2022, this totaled over 1.5 million tons of salmon and raked in around a 45% profit margin (Guardian). 

Fish farming corporations have continued to lobby against the tax, arguing it would injure an industry already faced with a 22% corporate tax (Reuters). Meanwhile, proponents of the tax claim that it will reduce the nation’s reliance on funds from the country’s oil reserves, increasing the state’s financial security. Guy Standing, a professor at the SOAS University of London, noted that the proposal is consequential in non-monetary ways as well: “This isn’t just designed to be anti-oligopolistic. It also offers an alternative to the prevailing model for managing seascapes” (Guardian). Over two-thirds of salmon farmers in Norway work for small fish farms making less than NOK 70m a year; these small farms will likely be exempt from the levy (Guardian). The tax must now be approved by parliament before going into effect (Reuters).