Or equally it could have come from the flogging-a-dead-horse department or the here-we-go-again people.
But before you shrug you shoulders and dismiss it out of hand this suggestion has come from Otago University so will be taken seriously by our employees in Wellington and pounced on by those of a vegetarian persuasion.
And before I go any further it is important to understand where the researchers are coming from.
They obviously started with their belief that eating meat is bad.
Therefore, they wondered how the Government can make people eat less meat.
So they looked for factors that make people eat less meat
Cost and health benefits were strong motivators for people cutting down.
But people making decisions to eat or not to eat don’t worry about the environment when making a decision.
The Otago boffins want to change that.
So they suggest putting an environment tax on meat to combat its environmental impact.
And that would force meat eaters to make a connection with the environment, they say.
A tax forcing people to look for a more plant-based diet would also help overcome the multiple barriers in the way of people changing their eating habits, particularly because meat is often a central component in many western diets.
The researchers haven’t just produced this because it’s an interesting way of wasting a bit of time.
They have done it so people can understand how to influence policy on reducing meat consumption.
They also want their work to offer some direction for strategies or policies like a potential meat tax.
And they don’t expect the meat industry to be surprised.
They say companies already know they will have to focus on quality rather than quantity and most businesses are trying to get ahead of the curve so the meat industry sees where future demand is heading.
So, as well as including farmers in the Emissions Trading Scheme we can now clobber them with a meat tax on top of water charges, fertiliser taxes, stocking and cropping limits and a mountain of environmental plan compliance issues.
Recently I said I was disappointed the review of the tax system is just more fiddling rather than clearing the board and starting from base zero for rates and taxes.
This suggestion only reinforces my view that we cannot and should not keep adding bits and pieces here and there to the tax system to pay for this or that for for someone to make a point.
And yes, it’s not just farmers suffering but they seem to be the whipping boys and girls for all ills these days.
We might think it’s ridiculous but taxes on fatty and sugary foods are gaining traction around the world.
And even farmers now accept things as routine that they wouldn’t even have considered a decade or so ago.
