First Cigarettes, Now Bacon and Eggs

Mises Daily: Thursday, October 27, 2011 by Ralph Reiland



You knew it was coming.

First they came for the cigarettes, then Hank Williams Jr. got knocked off Monday Night Football for being politically incorrect, and now they're coming for the butter.

Denmark, on October 1, put a $1.29-per-pound tax on all foods that hit 2.3 percent in saturated fats. That's on top of a 25 percent surcharge imposed last year by Denmark's food police on all ice cream, candy, sugar, soft drinks and chocolate.

So now it's cupcakes being added to Denmark's targets for hiked taxes, plus bacon, whole milk, shortening, avocados, whipped cream, sausages, sardine oil, nuts, egg yolks, meat drippings, hydrogenated oils, seeds, cheese, dried coconut, cod-liver oil and skin-on ducks.

And they're not even that fat in Denmark. The obesity rate in Denmark is 13.4 percent, lower than the European average of 15.5 percent, and way lower than the obesity rate in United States — 33.8 percent for adults and 17.5 percent for children and adolescents aged 2 through 19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Today, more than half the residents of New York City and nearly 40 percent of our public school students are overweight, many of them seriously so," reports foodnavigator-USA.com.

There's a food director at the Confederation of Industries in Denmark, a central planner named Ole Linnet Juul. Denmark's across-the-board tax on saturated fat, he said, is the first of its kind in the world.

Ole Juul says the new tax will only add 15 cents to a hamburger. That's a pretty skinny hamburger. A tax of $1.29 per pound adds 64.5 cents to a good half-pounder, plus whatever tax they stick on the cheese and bun.

What the tax is supposed to do is increase the average life expectancy of the Danes by three years in the next decade, explained Juul. It really might not work to make their lives longer — it'll just seem that way.

Juul didn't get into how longer life spans will add to Denmark's already-burgeoning pension costs, heighten the nation's already-high levels of red ink, and intensify Denmark's debt crisis. That's another department.

In any case, the Danes, seemingly more concerned about getting sufficient amounts of butter for their pancakes than living longer, are already stockpiling and talking about some surreptitious smuggling.

"Danes hoarded food before the tax went into effect Saturday, emptying grocery store shelves," reported ABC News. "Some butter lovers may even resort to stocking up during trips abroad."

That sounds like Denmark's central planners might want to get some advice from America's TSA agents on how to scan underwear for concealed butter sticks.

Romania and Finland are already talking about following Denmark's lead, according to the Los Angeles Times.


And it's beginning to sound like we might be next. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that American healthcare costs due to weight-driven problems went up by $40 billion a year when obesity rates increased from 18 percent to 25 percent between 1998 and 2006.

Some are claiming we can get all that money back and more if we'd just raise taxes on sardines, ducks, sausages, Snickers and all the other bad stuff on the aforementioned lists.

"Conservatively estimated, a 10% tax levied on foods that would be defined as 'less healthy' by a national standard adopted recently in Great Britain could yield $240 billion in its first five years and $522 billion over 10 years of implementation," advised Los Angeles Times health reporter Melissa Healy.

http://mises.org/daily/5763/First-Cigarettes-Now-Bacon-and-Eggs

Yeah well the problem isnt the food.....if they would get off their butts and stop playing video games and watching tv.....played sports and rodes bikes after school like the kids used to it wouldnt be so bad....thats realizing some have a problem physically but most wouldnt be

the problem is people making excuses for the govt imposing overbearing regulations on the people because its the people that brought it on themselves

Let alone the depletion of the Social Security Funds!
Some Idiot really went off half-cocked again!
Typical Political appointee!

Taxing fat content! So that's how they pay for all that free stuff in Denmark.

Thats a lie. I play video games all the time and I am not fat.

Problem is they apparently don't understand nutrition. Fat doesn't make you fat. It would make more sense if they taxed carbs.

It would make more sense if they paid for their own health care!

Guess Duuuude will enjoy that!

I agree. I think carbs - especially addictive carbs - are more of a health threat than fat.

Oh, those sad pathetic confused people who buy (sugar-laden) fat-free ice cream, and think that somehow this means they can eat more of it...

Personally I don't see a problem with it in that country since they do have free health care.

Putting a tax on what is going to lead to health problems is a way to pay for the health care.

Of course with the mind set here, it would never work. Well, at least not for a long time. We have a couple of generations to go through before the mindset will be right for universal health care here and then we could impose a tax on the food that is unhealthy. The healthy stuff is actually more expensive here now.

They don't have "free" health care in Denmark, they pay through the arse! Over 55% tax hit! Seems that is not enough, now they want a tax on food composition! Give me a break! Glad I don't live there.

Play video games is one thing to the exclusion of doing nothing else is another

No offense but at 10 years old I bet I could run circles around you and probably give you a whoopin if you were the age you are now. There is alot to be said for spending your days climbing trees, riding bikes, walking around a few city blocks dumpster diving for cans and porno mags, hiking into the mountains to go fishing. Sitting around playing video games and being thin doesn't mean anything, kids are still weak and have cardio vascular systems. I had video games (Atari 5200) and friends had the first version of Nintendos and we still played outside. This is one reason kids today are *******, they sit on their ***** and have no physical interaction with one another.

Don't think that's a coincidence Dragoness, the easier and cheaper it is to get cheap crap, the better it is for them to keep control over us. Healthy people does not make them money, sick people do, because then we need more medical visits, and more of their drugs to "fix" our problem, but not really fix it, just make us reliant on them to deal with it.

Oh and the LAST thing we need is MORE taxes. To hell with that, they steal enough as it is! All this is is just an excuse for them to take even more. Has little to do with health at all.

Doesnt sound too terrible. Its not a tax on anything that is a necessity,,its a deterrent for 'over' doing it,,,,,seems a win , win

it doesnt stop people from doing it, it just increases the price,

Sunshine will be next!

well,I know a Dane who enjoys paying High Taxes!

I know europeans who do as well, in exchange for the quality of life they enjoy

Wait till they tax something YOU like. See how you like it then. As long as we keep allowing ******** like this to go on, they will continue to do it. It really saddens me how little of a backbone people have anymore, particularly in this country. If the government says jump, we say "how high" instead of saying "screw you". We are the ones giving them their power by giving our consent to their deeds. Until that stops not much is gonna change for the better.