Truck and Barter: Taxes on Everything

May 26, 2005

Taxes on Everything

By Ian

(With all due apologies to MR.)

Denmark, the land of remarkably high tax rates, has found something else on which to impose a tax.

Denmark, with the world's highest income tax levels, wants sperm donors to pay tax on the 500 crown ($84.59) reimbursement men receive for their services.

Of course, this tax won't divert activity away from the newly-taxed practice. The diversion will simply be in the location.

"It is a special kind of work and therefore the fee cannot be compared to normal working income," Cryos said in a letter to the tax authorities, adding it risked losing donors, most of whom are students.

Posted at May 26, 2005 01:50 PM

Comments

FYI, the Danish move may not be all bad news -- http://www.taxfoundation.org/blog/show/504.html.

Comment by Andrew at May 26, 2005 03:22 PM | Permalink

If all income is taxed, I don't see why an exception for sperm donation would make the least amount of sense.

Comment by Half Sigma

at May 28, 2005 11:40 AM | Permalink

In the USA, you will pay normal income taxes (28% or whatever) on the fee the sperm bank pays you. So this Denmark tax doesn't sound different or excessive.

Comment by Lugo at May 30, 2005 03:53 PM | Permalink

I'm not sure if the comments are suggesting that I said the tax itself is in some way "excessive" in taxing something that I see as somehow special. I simply thought it an amusing step in a country that already collects a massive amount of tax money from its citizens. That this was untaxed before is interesting on its own; more interesting to me is the fact that someone decided that it was worth changing the law to gather taxes from this activity. Is it really anticipated to bring in high revenues? Or just a case of normal bureaucracy creeping along to cover gaps regardless of its subject?

In addition, my intended joke was a play on the notion that taxes will, in theory, drive economic activity away from the subject of the tax in some measure to the elasticity of the thing being "demanded". In this case, I think the result could possibly be that men's "activity" won't slow down at all -- they just might not be as ready to head to the donor location. Though, Andrew's points are all well taken...

Comment by Ian at May 31, 2005 12:44 AM | Permalink

"Is it really anticipated to bring in high revenues?"

Maybe they're just cleaning up the tax code by eliminating a lot of unnecessary deductions. I'm giving the Danes the benefit of the doubt on this one.

Comment by Half Sigma

at May 31, 2005 11:50 AM | Permalink