Should unhealthy foods be taxed more than healthy ones?
Many countries have extra ’sin taxes’ on items such as cigarettes and alcohol. The main argument for such taxes is that they discourage consumption of these items, while at the same time raising money for the government (sometimes to fund special projects, sometimes not).
This little article about a proposed tax change in Norway got me thinking. It has been proposed that taxes be removed from healthy fruits and vegetables and doubled on soft drinks. These changes would be made in the interest of public health, to promote a healthier diet.
It sounds like a great idea to me, at least on the surface. I’ve often heard the complaint that it’s more expensive to eat healthy food, so why shouldn’t the government re-arrange taxes to do something about it? What do you think?
Tags: food, fruit, health, healthy eating, Norway, public health, sin tax, soda, taxes, vegan, vegetables, vegetarian
YES. But that would never happen. We pay a “sin” tax here in PA for alcohol.
They have been discussing that for ages here in Sweden but it seems unlikely that it will happen. I’m all for it, but so many people are opposed to it and think that the government should not try to control what we should and shouldn’t eat, which seems weird, seeing how they’ve always done that (milk, as an example, is incredibly cheap, because they want us to drink it lots). Hopefully it will happen!
thank you for the information yo!