Dunne: dairy farmer tax headlines simply wrong

Media headlines today comparing dairy farmers' tax bills with those of the average wage earner were based on "an inexcusable fudging of turnover and income," Revenue Minister Peter Dunne said today.

"This is a classic case of comparing apples and oranges“ the media and the Opposition have conveniently ignored the fact that businesses, including farmers, are not taxed on turnover, they are taxed on the income they have as profit," Mr Dunne said.

"The particular instance cited was for 2008-2009, when dairy farmers received significantly lowered Fonterra pay-outs, and were servicing very high debt levels across the sector at high interest rates.

"Federated Farmers has stated that the average dairy farmer made a $50,000 cash loss in that year. In that case, pointing to $500,000 incomes is patently ridiculous. Again it is the difference between turnover and profit," Mr Dunne said.

He said that suggestions of the Government going soft on any business sector did not fit with the $119.3 million allocated over four years in Budget 2010 to clamp down on tax evasion.