Finance minister to crack down on state companies
State-owned companies worth more than 400 billion kroner will be given clear demands and goals, according to the finance minister, Bjarne Corydon (Socialdemokraterne). Rail operators DSB, energy providers DONG and lottery firm Danske Spil will all face more government oversight, with precise and limited spectrums for manoeuvring. Corydon also told Børsen newspaper that the government would look into which state-owned companies are vital for society and which are not and can therefore be sold. – Børsen
Tax returns loaded with errors
A new report indicates that there were errors in 40 percent of personal tax returns and that taxpayers try to deduct all sorts of items on their returns. The control report from tax authority Skat showed that there were serious mistakes in 400 out of every 1,000 self-reported tax returns and that taxpayers have falsely attempted to deduct 20 million kroner from their taxes. Razor blades, DVDs, tooth brushes, soap and jazz club memberships were among the items Danes tried to deduct. – Politiken
Foundation of energy agreement crumbling
Polluting the climate has become so cheap that the financial underpinning of last year’s massive energy agreement is crumbling away. The energy agreement from last year predicted a CO2-quota price of 139 kroner per tonne in 2013, which was expected to rise to 213 kroner per tonne by 2020. But the financial crisis has dropped the quota to just 30 kroner per tonne and analysts from the Swiss bank UBS indicated that the price could drop to zero by 2020, creating an extra 12.5 billion kroner energy bill for Danish taxpayers. – Berlingske
Bankruptcy victims face long pay wait
Almost 21,000 Danish workers in 2012 were forced to wait an average of nine weeks to receive their wages after their employers went bankrupt. A number of labour unions have hit out at Lønmodtagernes Garantifond, the insurance fund that assists workers in case of bankruptcy, saying that it is too slow in paying people’s wages. The long waiting times without access to unemployment benefits or social security forced many of the bankruptcy victims to take a loan, forgo paying their bills or sell off assets in order to stay off the streets. – Jyllands-Posten
