Posted on 10/01/2011 11:16:36 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
Denmark levies world's first fat tax
AFPBy Julian Isherwood | AFP – 17 hrs ago
Denmark on Saturday became the first country in the world to impose a fat tax after a week in which consumers hoarded butter, pizza, meat and milk to avoid the immediate effects.
"We have had to stock up with tonnes of butter and margarine in order to be able to supply outlets," Soeren Joergensen of Arla Distribution told AFP.
The new tax, designed by Denmark’s outgoing government as a health issue to limit the population’s intake of fatty foods, will add 16 kroner ($2.87, 2.15 euros) per kilo (2.2 pounds) of saturated fats in a product.
This means an increase in the price of a pack of 250 grammes of butter, for example, by 2.20 kroner to more than 18 kroner.
"It has been a chaotic week with a lot of empty shelves. People have been filling their freezers," Christian Jensen of an independent local Copenhagen supermarket told AFP.
"But actually I don’t think the tax will make that much difference. If people want to buy a cake, they will buy it. But right now they’re saving money," he added.
The new tax will be levied on all products including saturated fats -- from butter and milk to pizzas, oils, meats and pre-cooked foods -- in a costing system that Denmark’s Confederation of Industries (DI) says is a bureaucratic nightmare for producers and outlets.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Living in a nanny state can be a real biatch.
Do they have a gay tax yet?
I was hoping this said FLAT tax and it was miss posted. DARN!
Might keep Michael Moore out of the country,which would be a good thing for Denmark.
Having the largest mosque in Scandinavia will soon resolve all Denmark’s problems.
Same here!
‘If people want to buy a cake, they will buy it. But right now they’re saving money’
Coming from a place that understands government intervention causes major price disruption. inflation, anyone?
I met a liberal womanat a wedding reception last summer. She was pretty chubby, to say the least. She told a group of people she was tired of living in colorado and had plans on moving to Denmark or Sweeden. I hope she’s in denmark right now.
It’s things like this that make it easy to say “BS” to anyone who claims taxes are used to support government services.
A flat tax in Denmark would be a hell of a good thing. Could turn a world around.
How about a porn tax?
I wish more of them would do that. They always threaten that stuff if a certain Republican gets elected but they never follow through with their threats. I know that Sweden or Denmark would be glad to have her.
and I thought they were taxing fat Danes.
I guess that was too much to hope for in a socialist country.
Absurd, ludicrous, asinine,idiotic and when I think of some more adjectives, I’ll be back.
I wonder if this would be seen as an unfair trade practice, and thus could be overruled by EU courts...
Oh, who am I fooling? No one but myself - the EU courts would likely applaud such a move and chide the other countries for not doing the same...
I can’t say this will lead to any revolution in Denmark. They know they have some of the highest taxes anywhere, but they’re also pretty happy with their country. For a lot of them, it is what they see as a fair exchange.
The sane ones have long ago fled the country for more wise places.
How about those famous tins of Danish butter cookies, baked in Denmark? Will those disappear? Those were actually pretty decent.
Gay tax sure would raise a lot of money....
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