Denmark Taxes Butter And Fat, But Will It Work? : The Salt Denmark's population is not obese in large numbers, especially when compared to the U.S., Mexico, and the United Kingdom. And disgruntled Danes could just skip over to Sweden to buy butter and oil.
Denmark Taxes Butter And Fat, But Will It Work?
Butter - it's going to cost you in Denmark.
Mark Jackson/iStockphoto.com hide caption
Butter - it's going to cost you in Denmark.
Mark Jackson/iStockphoto.comDenmark, the land of luscious lardy pork ribs and those famous blue butter cookie tins, is not known for having a major obesity problem. In fact, Danes are among the thinnest people in Europe and beyond. (Most obese? Us. About one-third of us. Us — as in people of the U.S.)
So when the tiny Scandinavian country announced it would be imposing a 16 Kroner (about $3 U.S.) tax on every kilogram of saturated fat as a way to discourage poor eating habits and raise revenue, we were left scratching our heads.
How's that going to work?