Buenos Aires, November 30 (NA) -- A bill presented in the Buenos Aires Legislature by Kirchnerist deputy Lucía Lorena Klug (Union for the Fatherland), close to Juan Grabois, caused a scandal in the agribusiness sector by proposing to levy a 'tax' on the methane gas emitted by cows during their digestive process.
According to the Argentine News Agency (NA), the initiative seeks to create the 'Environmental Tax on Methane in Buenos Aires (TAMBA)', which would oblige livestock producers to pay based on the kilograms of equivalent carbon dioxide (CO₂e) emitted, calculated in relation to the number of heads of cattle.
Rejection from the agricultural sector and technical unfeasibility The project, presented as a scheme for 'Extended Producer Responsibility' to mitigate emissions, was immediately condemned by the rural sector.
CARBAP: The Confederation of Rural Associations of Buenos Aires and La Pampa (CARBAP) was blunt. Its president, Ignacio Kovarsky, stated: 'Charging cows to breathe does not reduce emissions, it reduces production,' rejecting a new tax burden on the Buenos Aires livestock industry.
Opposition: Provincial deputy Luciano Bugallo (Civic Coalition) described the initiative as a 'tax on cow farts' and denounced that the project is unfeasible because there is no accessible and verifiable technology to measure methane emissions individually on each livestock farm.
Klug argued that livestock represents 19% of the province's methane.
However, legislative sources assure that the project does not have the support of other blocks and that its parliamentary future is 'almost nil' due to the lack of consensus and technical objections.
