Originally Posted by
smartcooky
Indeed.
My bro-in-law is a cocky down the coast. In the last five or six years he has spent over $45,000 (plus paid time for his farm manager) doing riperian planting of his waterways and streams, and he refrained from using those paddocks and areas that he hadn't done yet. The idea of a water tax to him was an insult, so he has now stopped planting, and will wait until he hears what is going to happen with this new government. When I spoke to him this morning, he said words to the effect...
"**** 'em!. If they are going to charge me for my own water, then they can arrange for the plantings themselves, and pay for it out of the money they steal from me".
I can't say I disagree with this sentiment.
From the information I was given, unless he has a irrigation scheme or a direct take from rivers, which he's had to get council approval for, his bill would be $0.00, and even those that are using irrigators won't be facing the bills that National and others claimed. I have direct from David Parker that the royalty will be 1-2 cents per meter cubed (i.e. 1,000 litres.) I worked out some time back that to be getting the massive bills of $60,000+ a year that was being claimed, farmers would have to be using the equivalent of 25 fire trucks at full pump 24/7 for the entire year, and if I recall right, I was working that at 10c not 1-2c.