Pesticide Ban

On July 11, 2000, the Halifax Regional Municipality voted to ban pesticide use on lawns by the year 2003.

Tax Policies

Several countries and states have found that increasing the costs of agricultural inputs is an effective way to reduce their use. Austria, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and the states of Iowa, Nebraska, and Wisconsin all have enacted fertilizer and/or pesticide taxes. Among the most aggressive of these contries, Norway taxes Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), Potassium (K) at 15%, while Sweden taxes N at $0.08/kg, P at $0.15/kg in addition to an across the board 20% levy on the retail price of fertilizers. (See information on Nominal tax rates of environmentally related taxes in Sweden - from OECD Database of Environmental Taxes)

To apply pesticides, Sweden imposes a 20% price regulation charge and a 10% environmental tax on sales, in addition to a $5.65 charge per hectare for each application. Norway charges 11% on the retail price, while Finland sets its tax at 2.5%. The revenue gained by these taxes are used to subsidize exports (such as in Finland); to support further the input reduction programs (such as in Sweden, where $3-3.5 million are raised each year); to support research into alternative agriculture (such as in Iowa and Wisconsin) or to return to farmers in the form of income support (such as in Norway).

While the level of taxation is in some cases not high enough to directly discourage pesticide and fertilizer use, indirect reductions occur as a result of channeling revenues towards sustainable farming practices which tend to use less pesticides and fertilizer inputs.

RULES:

• Halifax Regional Municipality Pesticide Ban
  Halifax has passed a by-law to regulate certain aspects of pesticide use over a three year period between 2000-2003. The by-law is authorised by the province of Nova Scotia under the Municipal Government Act which allows regulation of outdoor application of pesticides for the purpose of maintaining plants and turf on residential and municipal properties. More...
• Iowa Groundwater Protection Act
  With passage of the 1987 Groundwater Protection Act, Iowa articulated a comprehensive policy regarding groundwater contamination. The Act established a scheme to raise revenue in three ways: pesticide manufacturing registration fees, pesticide dealer licensing fees, and fertilizer taxes. More...
• Nebraska Fertilizer Taxes
  Nebraska had a fee in place for commercial sales, use and consumption of fertilizer. The fees imposed were collected by the seller and remitted to the Department of Revenue for credit to the Ethanol Production Incentive Cash Fund through December 31, 1996, and to the Natural Resources Enhancement Fund through December 2000. More...