Sod off, say farmers to Turf Tax

AS THE Government is said to be considering extending the carbon tax, already in place for smoky coal and briquettes, to turf it has angered farmers and Co Galway IFA spokesperson Padraic Divilly says the State can â€Å“sod offâ€Â if they try to introduce such a tax. The Kilkerrin farmer says if the Government were to introduce such a measure it would be unwieldy and â€Å“it would cost them more to collect such a tax than what they would take in from itâ€Â.[private] But he added that any such move would also be a step back to the bad old days of â€Å“daylight robberyâ€Â during English rule in Ireland. â€Å“This sounds similar to the way that Connemara farmer Dan Oâ€â„¢Hara was taxed for putting a window in his house â€â€ daylight robbery back in the 1800s. â€Å“Many farmersâ€â„¢ sons cut a few trailers of turf and save it and sell it in order to make some money to help put them through college and there is no way that they should be forced to pay tax on this.â€Â Padraic Divilly added that in times when farmers have no fodder for their stock, no grass and no money to buy feedstuffs this latest suggestion of a tax on turf sales â€Å“sounds like a bad jokeâ€Â. â€Å“It is nonsense and if they tried to impose that we would be forced to go back to the bartering system of exchanging goods for fuel and that simply canâ€â„¢t be allowed to happen,â€Â he concluded. [/private]