Are You A Fat Tax Supporter?
September 28, 2009 by Jennifer Chait
Filed under Health & Wellness, food, taxes
Lately I’ve been hearing more and more about the fat tax. A soda tax. An unhealthy food tax. Etc. There have been some concrete suggestions for some sort of unhealthy food tax, but nothing in the U.S. is 100% yet. What I’m wondering is are you on board or not?
Personally I’m on the fence i.e. I haven’t totally made up my mind if a fat tax is a good idea or not, although to be honest I’m leaning toward it being a super idea. I’m not going to discuss that now though, because I have a feeling this post would get very long. Right now I’ll list some of the pros and cons I’ve been seeing around the web and in the news.
Possible pros:
- Could limit the amount of fatty or sugary foods people purchase, which might help curb this major obesity issue going on the U.S.
- Might make people think twice about the actual cost of less healthy foods.
- Could help us to save money on health care costs.
- The cigarette tax, once instated did result in a reduced amount of smoking related deaths – although I don’t think they can prove total correlation. It could be some folks quit smoking for other reasons. BUT in theory, if it’s true a tax on unhealthy foods might cut down on the weight issues in this country.
- Why not? Is it fair to tax unhealthy smoking and people who won’t recycle but not unhealthy foods?
Possible cons:
- Are we going to tax everything? Where will it all end.
- Who decides which foods are healthy vs. unhealthy. Some people think whole milk is terrible for you. Some people frown on soy. I think red meat and pork and non-organic produce is unhealthy. Are chips and soda worse than oatmeal cookies – it’s pretty fuzzy when you start labeling food.
- Ever heard of a little thing called freedom of choice – however, note that the government already doesn’t agree with human freedom of choice to make bad health decisions, hence the cigarette tax and recent ban on cloves.
Above is just the VERY slim tip of what will likely be a huge debate among the government, health organizations, and consumers soon enough.
So far the reason I’m most on board is because I see way too many chubby kids. It’s not healthy and so maybe an unhealthy food or soda or a fast food tax would help. Later I’ll post some more resources and links to information about this debate and as soon as I jump on a side my own opinion. For now, why not tell me what you think…
Fat tax good or bad – tell me what you think in the comments.
My problem with the “fat tax” is that none of it is really that bad for you in moderation. It would create a lot of gray areas as to what is healthy and what isn’t, and I doubt it would actually curb consumption.
What I’ve noticed most is the lack of mentioning those that suffer weight issues not from eating but from medical issues like thyroid disorders, cancer, and so on.
The second issue that I can see is the possibility of discrimination followed by a whopper law suit. Calling it a “fat tax” is an open invitation for a suit.
It would be better to refer to these items as a “sweets tax” or “luxury foods tax” which is also more applicable to the intent.