Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Lego’s chief executive has lambasted Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s wealth tax proposal, arguing it would hurt the rich Scandinavian country significantly.
Niels Christiansen, head of the world’s largest toymaker, told the FT that the proposal by the ruling Social Democrats ahead of elections later this month would “drain quite a lot of capital out of companies”.
He added: “There’s a high risk it would impact society pretty hard in the long run — less job creation, less tax generated from companies, less competitiveness for a broad range of Danish companies.”
Frederiksen’s party has proposed an annual 0.5 per cent tax on assets worth more than 25mn kroner (about $3.9mn) for individuals as her main policy proposal in early elections. Going to the polls now is an attempt to capitalise on her increased popularity for standing up to President Donald Trump over his desire to seize control of Greenland from Denmark.
In the mid-1980s about half of OECD countries had annual net wealth taxes, but many countries including Denmark subsequently abandoned them.
Frederiksen’s proposal has sparked criticism from many of Denmark’s biggest companies, from drugmaker Novo Nordisk and brewer Carlsberg to container shipping giant Maersk and industrial group Danfoss.
Kim Fausing, chief executive of Danfoss, the country’s largest private industrial company, told the FT the wealth tax proposal was “counter-productive” and that efforts should be made to make “the cake bigger” instead.
“We have a forest in this country of midsized companies that are owned privately — if you tax these people for wealth, the dividends they would have to take out would be bigger to pay this tax. It’s a fundamental problem of again driving Europe and Denmark in the wrong direction,” he said.
A recent increase in a wealth tax in Norway has been credited with a record number of rich business people fleeing the country for Switzerland, as well as holding back start-ups owing to entrepreneurs being levied for paper profits.
Rasmus Corlin Christensen, an international tax researcher at Copenhagen Business School, said the effectiveness of any new wealth tax would “depend hugely on the design”. Unlike some other countries, Denmark already had an exit levy that could make it very hard for rich individuals to avoid any new wealth tax.
Robert Uggla, chair of Maersk and head of the founding family’s investment company, told Danish newspaper Berlingske: “A wealth tax would be harmful to Denmark . . . the economy is not a zero-sum game, and this type of redistribution policy risks negatively affecting Danish companies’ access to capital.”
Henrik Andersen, chief executive of wind turbine maker Vestas, has said he would consider moving abroad if the wealth tax was implemented.
Frederiksen’s Social Democrats are leading opinion polls with about 21 per cent support, but difficult coalition discussions are likely after the March 24 poll. A more pro-business centre-right government is also a possibility.
The debate about the wealth tax came as Lego posted another set of record annual results with revenues rising 12 per cent in 2025 to DKr83.5bn ($13bn) and net profit up about a fifth to DKr16.7bn ($2.6bn) — significantly ahead of rival toymakers.
The Danish group is preparing for one of its biggest launches of recent years as it brings out a new “smart brick” designed to merge physical and digital play.