Denmark introduces "fat tax"

[longfingernails]

news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16081190

We should do the same - and use the money to pay for an income tax cut.

Cars are great in the countryside, for carrying large loads, and for staying dry in appalling weather.

Otherwise bikes are better IMVHO.

"Take their cars away" - or discourage people from getting one in the first place. There's a 200% tax in cars in Denmark.

tax on cars

(got sidetracked thinking about the good ole days of 2 kroner cheaper butter :o )

We don't have enough public investment in public transport outside cities and large towns for cars to be limited in this way - if there was a more integrated transport policy I daresay most people would be able to chuck away their car keys within a decade, which would be fantastic.

Boffin - that's very true.

Even cycle paths would help. I know they are starting to bring some in, but they need to be everywhere to be of any use. But then that would mean one massive overhaul.

Is that tax just on new cars?

We live fairly rurally and really need a car to take advantage of bulk buying /discount stores etc (not so much food but loo roll, second hand/cheap furniture etc) as so little is accessible by public transport. Our little £350 banger is invaluable and it costs a bloody arm and a leg in insurance as it is!

La Weasel - am pretty sure it is just new cars but not 100% certain. Cars are expensive here though - hence a lot of people bike.

I suppose my worry with every effort that is made to make 'people in general' healthier is that they can have negative affects on the poor just because extra cost for ANYTHING is so tough to deal with.

Especially for the rural poor who cannot help but have a car and pay for petrol if they are going to work, access shops and schools etc.

I must admit, I have never lived in rural Denmark, but have lived in rural Wales, so know that a car is an absolute necessity when living rurally.

I'm not sure how the costs balance out - rent is cheaper rurally, but then jobs pay less / aren't so easy to find etc.

We are lucky, we saved up for ages to buy one of these to cart the children / bulk shopping about which has been an absolute godsend (we can't afford a car but live in the city so lots of public transport etc).

I do think this fat tax is a bit stupid though. It would make sense to tax sugar instead if done for health concerns (but as a self-confessed chocoholic I'm glad they didn't )

Having said that, reading the stuff that has been written about it so far, the idea isn't so much to encourage people to buy artificially low fat alternatives, but to use different oils instead, olive oil, linseed oil, coconut oil etc for cooking. Plus, while it is an extra tax, it is only a few kroner more it comes out as (so not like a 200% tax) and the supermarkets still seem to be running offers on butter etc this week, so it's the usual case of keeping an eye on which supermarkets run which offers to get butter a bit cheaper.

That looks great! I'd quite like something like that, sturdy enough to feel comfortable using it on the roads.

I was looking at the actual cost impact of the tax and a burger costs 10p more, and a pack of butter costs 25p more.

To me that shows how silly it is!

They are great, took me all of about 5 minutes to get used to biking it!

You can have up to 100kg in it - I've biked my mum around in ours when she came to visit (and she also biked the dc's in it - and she is not the world's sportiest person)

They are expensive though - once you put the bench, seatbelts in and the tent bit on top, you're looking at £1500 (I waited 5 years wanting one before we could finally buy it!)

This tax is silly, I think most people agree, although as kelly said ages ago, it is a bit of a non-story in Denmark.

Familybikes are about £400 and good for getting a couple of kids on, and there used to be something called a Brox Bike which was a recumbent that you could put two adults on at the back, but I think that was rather pricey.

I tried the Christiana bike recently but I thought it was like pedalling a car tbh.

Boffinmum - a car that runs on chocolate no less

Fair point well made.

And definitely beats the metro for getting the dc's to and from nursery - used to take 30 mins (of which was a 10 min walk each end) excluding all the stops to examine snails, cigarette butts, dead leaves etc - now it takes 10 mins in the bike (hastens to add that the dc's still get to examine plenty of nature at nursery, and at home - we have a small flat so spend a lot of time in the huge park next door)

Those fingernails are enought to put anyone off burgers for life. Eurgh....

this is a very interesting look at sugar and its rise and rise in our diets

www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sugar-t.html?pagewanted=all

Good article but I would say that as it supports my own views and my own way of eating.

i read it a few months back and it put me right off sugar. I'm pregnant and would rather take my chances with aspartame, and avoid gestational diabetes. However I think fat isn't the evil thing it is made out to be, as the story's author has also concluded. I find it much more satisfying and filling to have a small bit of ice cream or full fat yoghurt than some fat free, tasteless replacement. Chips and fried food are a bit of another story though ...

I don't have aspartame either. You can get used to drinking water. Changing habits is not that hard but you have to stick with it for long enough so that you lose the older habit.

Interesting article (although is 'healthful' really a word?)

I'm the opposite, I'd rather have a bit of brown sugar than an artificial sweetener (luckily have never been a fan of fizzy drinks etc).

I'm sure I read 6 weeks somewhere as a general rule of thumb for making or breaking a habit.

I know someone who did cold turkey zero sugar for several months (as in not even fruit or bread etc) and then slowly introduced some sugars back in (fruit for example).

I have a real sweet tooth but put a limit on my sugar as having tried being sugarfree for 2 months, I can't do completely without it (so no sugar in hot drinks, tend to eat more rye bread than wheat bread etc but I have chocolate every day with my coffee). If I am really craving even more chocolate taste, I drink plain cocoa powder and hot water as a drink (took a bit of getting used to, but i actually really like it now ).

I do think there's a big difference in different sugars though. If I bake, I have to use demarara or golden caster sugar rather than the white stuff as i can't stand the taste.