Denmark’s Taxation Minister, Rasmus Stoklund, has confirmed the ‘special tax’ on the Danish financial sector, including pensions, is “here to stay”, despite calls for it to be scrapped.

Stoklund told European Pensions that he is a “strong supporter” of the Arne pension – the country’s early retirement pension launched in 2021 and funded through the ‘special tax'.

The Arne pension is designed to let Danes with long working lives and often physically demanding jobs retire up to three years before the state pension age.

“The financial sector makes a lot of money, and it is only fair that the sector contributes to the community and welfare in Denmark,” he said.

The sector association, Insurance and Pension Denmark (I&P Denmark), is staunchly against the tax, and recently reiterated its calls for the tax to be scrapped.

I&P Denmark CEO, Kent Damsgaard, described the tax as “deeply problematic”, arguing it creates an uneven playing field, with some firms paying higher corporate tax than others.

The association argued that take-up of the Arne pension is lower than previously estimated, but the tax revenue, based on its calculations, amounted to DKK 350m in 2024.

Figures from the Danish Ministry of Employment published in 2024 revealed that between 1 August 2021 and 30 March 2024, 68,800 citizens were granted the right to early retirement, but just 18,800 had taken up the pension.

In response, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Taxation said that “political agreements are not adjusted as a result of economic fluctuations, new estimates for use or revenues”.

“Any actual deviations will either be financed by or accrue to the Treasury, depending on the direction of any deviation,” it stated.

This means that if, for example, the number of people taking early retirement turns out to be higher than estimated in the agreement, no additional funding will be required, such as increasing the special tax on the financial sector.

“The same applies if the number of people in the scheme turns out to be lower than expected in the long term,” it said.

In defence of the tax, Stoklund told European Pensions that Danish taxpayers “threw a lifeline” to banks and the wider financial sector during the financial crisis, so now it is their turn to give back to the “Danes who have worked the longest and often had tough jobs”.

He believes the tax contributes to the “social contract” in Denmark, so “society is fair” and that the sector should feel “proud”.

As a result, the government has no plans to change the tax.

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