Christopher Snowdon reviews Denmark’s attempt to reduce obesity by taxing saturated fats:
The economic and political failure of the fat tax provides important lessons for policy-makers who are considering ‘health-related’ taxes on fat, sugar, ‘junk food’ and fizzy drinks in the UK and elsewhere. As other studies have concluded, the effect of such policies on calorie consumption and obesity is likely to be minimal. These taxes are highly regressive, economically inefficient and widely unpopular. Although they remain popular with many health campaigners, this may be because, as one Danish journalist noted, ‘doctors don’t need to get re-elected.’
Read more at The Proof of the Pudding: Denmark’s fat tax fiasco | Institute of Economic Affairs.
Not in the least because saturated and unsaturated fats are as fattening as each other. There is also evidence that vegetable oils are carcinogenic when heated and/or rancid as they often are in processed foods