Glen Jeffrey would like to deflate any thoughts of tagging a provincial levy on farm implement tires.
“There cannot be any more expenses passed on to producers,” said the Bowsman, Man., farmer at an Oct. 26 general meeting of Keystone Agricultural Producers.
“This is totally unacceptable. I think bureaucrats sit back and think of ways to make more money.”
The Manitoba government already collects a $3 levy each time a tire is sold for passenger cars or light- and medium-sized trucks. The money is used for the collection and recycling of tires in the province.
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Off-road tires, such as those on farm tractors, are exempt from the levy.
KAP general manager Linda MacNair told delegates the levy on off-road tires could run as high as $35, depending on the size and weight of the tire.
“What they’re saying is it takes considerably more resources to recycle a tractor tire.”
But there’s uncertainty as to whether the new levy will ever be implemented.
Manitoba’s tire stewardship board handed the proposal to the Manitoba government a year ago. The cabinet committee examining the idea didn’t get a chance to act on it before September’s provincial election.
With a new government in power, the proposed levy is sitting in limbo, said Bill Harper, general manager of the tire stewardship board.
On back burner
Harper said it will be at least six months before the NDP government gets a chance to revisit the idea.
A levy on off-road tires would generate up to $800,000 a year for tire recycling, Harper said. He believes it would create a fairer system, since a broader group of tire users would share in the recycling costs.
Processors who find it hard to shred the larger tires for recycling are storing most off-road tires. It’s estimated that those stored tires represent more than 3.5 million kilograms of rubber.
The idea of paying up to $35 more for a tractor tire aroused the ire of KAP delegates such as John Roskos.
“Where does it end at?” he asked. “It’s just getting out of hand.”
