Sperm Donation Not 'Taxable Labor' for Danes

The Danish government has thought better of a plan to tax earnings from sperm donation just as it taxes any other job, Der Spiegel reports. The catch is that it would have required donors to disclose their identities, which sperm banks said would drive away 93% of their business. It would be quite the loss: Danish sperm is exported globally and has helped impregnate 15,000 women. 

Donors, 90% of whom are blond and blue-eyed and many of whom are students looking to make an easy buck, earn between $50 and $100 for their labor. Other European countries require donor disclosure, especially once a child conceived by donated sperm grows up. Denmark's sperm banks warned that the law would have resulted in emerging black markets in sperm and fertility tourism to other countries. (More sperm stories.)