COPENHAGEN, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- Denmark's new Finance Act will tax online casinos and plastic bags in a bid to fund major welfare promises.
After weeks of negotiation, Denmark's Social Democratic government reached an agreement late Monday evening with support parties the Radicals, Unity List, SF and the Alternative Party on next year's Finance Act.
Under the deal, sports betting providers and online casinos, according to the new law, are hit hard and must now pay 8 percent more on profits bringing in an extra 150 million Danish Krones (some 22 million U.S. dollars) annually into government coffers.
A further 65 million Danish Krones (about 9.5 million U.S. dollars) will be raised by taxing plastic bags and disposable service containers.
Taxes on raw materials, registration, pesticides, wastewater, and packaging will rake in 70 million Danish Krones (over 10 million U.S. dollars) in 2020 and 230 million Danish Krones (34 million U.S. dollars) by 2023.
The Finance Act also benefits foreign nationals who wish to study in Denmark. Participation payment for Danish tuition for both foreign workers and students has now been abolished.
The residence requirement for unemployment benefit is also abolished. Foreigners and Danes who want to come to Denmark from abroad do not need to have stayed in Denmark or another EU country for at least seven of the past 12 years in order to receive unemployment benefits.
What is more, it will be harder to deny foreign residence in the future if one has worked in Denmark for a minimum of two years.
With the new funds, the government is now able to fulfill election promises and invest to create minimum standards for pre-schoolers. Municipalities will also be given more funds to hire more teachers.
As the education ceiling will be abolished from 2020, it allows students to have more than one education for free.
