108. Fat Tax

In Denmark a  so-called “fat tax” went into effect on Saturday. The tax rate is 16 Danish kroner per kilogram of saturated fat in a food – in terms Americans can understand, that’s about $6.27 per pound of saturated fat – and it kicks in when the saturated fat content of a food item exceeds 2.3%.

According to Ole Linnet Juul, food director at Denmark’s Confederation of Industries the tax adds 12 cents to a bag of chips, 39 cents to a small package of butter and 40 cents to the price of a hamburger.

If this seems like a radical move, consider that Denmark has already banned the use of trans fats, which many doctors say is the worst kind because it raises bad cholesterol and lowers good cholesterol at the same time. Danes also pay sin taxes on sugary items like soda and candy. But the fat tax is believed to be the first of its kind in the world, Linnet Juul told theAssociated Press.

The law was passed by a government the Associated Press describes as “conservative.” And while the fat tax may be a first, it may soon be joined by similar taxes in Finland and Romania.

The fat tax isn’t aimed at curbing obesity. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the obesity rate in Denmark was 13.4% last year, below the European average of 15.5%. But Denmark lags in terms of life expectancy, and the country hopes the measure will increase the average lifespan by three years over the next decade.

When then-health minister Jakob Axel Nielsen proposed a variety of sin taxes on unhealthy foods in 2009, he explained that “higher fees on sugar, fat and tobacco is an important step on the way toward a higher average life expectancy in Denmark.” The fat tax was especially critical because “saturated fats can cause cardiovascular disease and cancer,” he said, according to the AP.




source: http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-fat-tax-denmark-20111013,0,2603132.story