Tasmanian salmon: more revenue, more pollution, but always less tax
The Tasmanian salmon industry is one where the revenue earned keeps going up while the tax paid falls to zero.
Over the last decade for which data is available, salmon industry revenue has doubled from $543 million in 2013-14 to $1,352 million in 2022-23. Total revenue over the decade was $8,779 million.
Meanwhile, tax paid by the three largest salmon farms has been near-zero. The total combined reported tax payments by Tassal, Huon and SeaLord (owners of Petuna) over this period was $51 million. While obviously tax is paid on profits not revenue, that the total tax paid over 11 years by the salmon industry is just 0.6% of revenue suggests either a deeply unprofitable industry or (more clearly) one where Australians are clearly not getting a fair return.
But wait, there’s less.
As we’ve explained before, the $6m paid since 2019 is all from SeaLord, which also has non-salmon farming activities. Following its takeover of Petuna, SeaLord’s revenue increased, but tax payments decreased. This suggests that Petuna’s salmon operations don’t contribute to SeaLord’s tax payments, but actually reduce them.
The Tasmanian salmon industry is a small employer within the state – employing only around 1,700 workers – less than 1% of all Tasmanian jobs and most of them are in Hobart. This means more than 99% of Tasmanian jobs are not in the salmon industry and at the same time more than 99% of the revenue from salmon does not end up in taxes.
Billions are being made by these multinational companies, polluting Tasmanian waterways, and they’re paying almost nothing in return.
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