Danish Fat Tax Repealed

Danish Butcher Shop
(Copenhagen, Denmark) The Danes have decided to repeal their first-in-the-world tax on the fat content of food.

The move comes as part of parliament’s on-going negotiations over the 2013 budget. The agreement between the Socialdemokraterne-led government and the far-left Enhedslisten will also see a similar levy on sugar content cancelled, due to come into effect next year.

Although its proponents touted the fat tax for its progressive approach to policymaking when it was implemented last year, it had come under increasing criticism by food producers and the opposition for making Danish products more expensive than imports and for increasing the administrative burden of the food producers that were required to collect the levy. Butchers were also in the process of mounting a legal challenge to the law.

So the fat tax made Danish products more expensive than imports. Seems kind of dumb, eh?