Denmark’s parliamentary tax committee has sent an unusually sharp letter to Tax and Growth Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt over the wording of his written answers to a Liberal Alliance MP.
DR reports that the Folketing’s tax committee, Skatteudvalget, criticized Engel-Schmidt after discussing his replies to questions from Liberal Alliance tax spokesman Mads Strange. The questions concerned a meeting the minister held with the grocery sector about the coming VAT reduction on food.
According to DR, Strange had asked whether the meeting stayed within the bounds of Danish competition law. At the meeting, the industry was asked to give a handshake commitment that consumers would feel the VAT cut in the form of lower prices.
In one written answer, the minister stated that he is not a communist or a Stalinist and has no plans to introduce Soviet-style planned economy. In another, he wrote that Strange’s idea machine had, for once, come to a halt.
Spokesman calls answers arrogant
Strange told DR that the minister is being extremely arrogant, cheeky and impertinent toward the Folketing as an institution. He described the replies as remarkable answers to what he considers entirely legitimate parliamentary questions.
Per DR’s reporting, Strange said the Danish system of government is arranged so that the Folketing’s foremost task is to control the government. He said it is fully legitimate to use the tools that Danish democracy provides to keep the government in check, and he called on the minister to apologize.
Asked whether he submits too many questions, Strange said he does not think so. He told DR he would have a bad conscience going home from work if he did not ask questions about matters important to public debate.
Minister points to repeated questions
DR Nyheder attempted to question Engel-Schmidt at a doorstep earlier on Monday but did not obtain answers. The minister instead sent a written response through his press department.
In it, he said he has noted that Skatteudvalget has discussed his answers to Strange, and that he takes the committee’s approach into account. He did not answer directly when DR asked whether he would apologize to the committee or change how he communicates in future.
As stated by the minister, he has great respect for persistence, and it is naturally the right of spokespersons to put questions to a minister, which he called essential to democracy. He added that the questioner had submitted almost the same question three times, and that the answer is therefore the same each time.
Engel-Schmidt took over the Ministry of Taxation from Ane Halsboe-Jørgensen in June 2026, DR notes. The dispute centers on the planned VAT cut on food, which affects cost of living in Denmark and falls under the ministry’s remit alongside income taxes.
