Rick Berman has a great piece on The Daily Caller talking about the unintended consequences of food taxes. IWF Executive Director Nicki Neily's Daily Caller opinion piece covered this topic last month.
On October 1, Denmark instituted a tax on foods containing saturated fat – the first of its kind. This is on top of a tax the Nordic country slapped last year on "junk" food, like ice cream and chocolate. The leftwing coalition that runs Denmark has even talked about doubling the tax.
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The Danes reportedly hoarded pizza, butter, meat, and milk before the tax took effect. And with a freezer full of DiGiorno, what are they going to eat more of?
And in the long term, there are a number of foods containing saturated fat that are associated with better health. One is dark chocolate (linked to heart health); a second is eggs (a good source of nutrients, according to Harvard); a third is Atlantic salmon (omega-3s are linked to heart and cognitive health). Taxing these foods could drive down these health benefits.
It's both hilarious and sad to imagine the Danes with a freezer full of now-contraband food but this is what the Danes get for electing representatives that don't trust them to make good food decisions. Elections matter. If you put a member of the food police into elected office–like the voters in New York have done with Mayor Michael Bloomberg–people shouldn't be surprised when taxes are levied on the food they eat.