Commentary: A fat tax is a healthy idea

**rubytuesday** · 10-06-2009 10:31 PM

Commentary: A fat tax is a healthy idea - CNN.com

Experts at Johns Hopkins call the trend "a public health crisis," projecting that by 2015, 75 percent of Americans will be overweight or obese. Shockingly, the Center for Children's Health Innovation reports that by the time kids enter kindergarten, over 26 percent are already overweight or obese.

If the government is serious about tackling our nation's health problems, then it should address food's role in the looming crisis.

To Congress' credit, proposed reforms emphasize increased prevention. But if socioeconomic incentives to consume harmful food persist, unhealthy patient behavior will prevail at monstrous cost to all of us.

The affordability of unhealthy food is at the congested heart of the matter. According to TIME magazine, the largesse of taxpayers enables McDonald's to offer a Big Mac, fries and a Coke for under $5. Our tax dollars underwrite Agriculture Department subsidies to corn farmers.

Tax fast food, soft drinks, and packaged foods high in processed fats and sugars to decrease demand for unhealthy food. A study published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine recommends a tax on "sugar-sweetened beverages," projecting that for every 10 percent rise in price, consumption of soft drinks would decline a corresponding 8 to 10 percent, leading to weight loss and reduced health risks.

While some will argue that more taxes and regulations are the last things we need and that the government has no place telling people what to consume, precedent exists for both.

We already tax and regulate other harmful products -- like tobacco and alcohol -- because it's common sense to dissuade individuals from nasty habits that cost our entire society. Plus, tax proceeds would help underwrite health reforms and preventive education.

Good article. I'd love to see government subsidies be redirected toward healthier food options.

**Gutter** · 10-07-2009 12:38 AM

um personally i think that the health system is just retarded its called health insurance for a reason if the insurance companies cant pay for what you need then your out of luck you cant cheat death for ever yea sure we can save lives but really people grow old and die or just die.. its nothing new trying to prevent such a thing or stage it off by use of machines medicine etc is just delaying the end. yeah you can say it should be affordable etc etc and what not but really if i had a pill that could make you live to be 200 years old how much do you think i would sell it for? supply and demand its just another business and if you try and say well everyone should have the best possable health care .. ya your right and everything should be good and happy and the world should be happy happy joy joy but its not so when you come back to reality its just the best possable health care you can afford.

btw ruby they already do that just join the military we will put you on a diet and make sure you exercise and youll get paid for it only draw back is you might get shot or blown up ..

**pseudo** · 10-07-2009 01:59 AM

Sure, tax it. When something is more expensive less is used, it's a no brainer. I was glad to see the point about cigarette tax in there because that's what I was thinking as I read that. But I think it's important that the money actually goes into programs to help educate people to eat better, or to help open community gardens, make more farmers markets available, school lunch programs, etc. The tax should be more than just a punishment for the unhealthy and a windfall for other random unrelated govt programs.

I would much rather see a carbon tax than a "fast food tax" because it would probably be much more far-reaching, but I will be happy to take what I can get. If we in the US were taxed on environmentally poor choices people would naturally eat better and the environment would be healthier. Beef is horrible for the environment and all the processed foods that are bad for us are as well. I think that if we all insist on being crazy wild lazy earth-hating capitalists on crack we should pay for it out of pocket, forrealz.

**LittleBit** · 10-07-2009 11:38 AM

I don't know about there - but here there are no regulations on price for healthy foods.

Recently in the news they did a little special on the varying prices of produce. In one city, a bag of apples was $2.49 or something..in another city 3 hours away it was nearly $7 for a bag of apples. Nearly a 5 dollar difference.

The prices of healthy foods fluctuate so much, while the prices of unhealthy foods remain relatively the same.

Rather than see a tax on unhealthy food, I'd prefer to see regulations placed on good food so that everyone can afford it. It's so much cheaper to eat unhealthy here than it is to eat healthy. It's sad really - we're making people choose between their health and their bank-account.

We have regulations on all the bad stuff, like cigarettes and alcohol, but not the good stuff that everyone needs. I don't think making the bad stuff more expensive is the solution...because sometimes it really is just more practical and cheaper to buy lots of unhealthy stuff and eat for two weeks, rather than spend the same amount on healthy stuff and maybe eat for one week, if it doesn't go bad before then.

**pseudo** · 10-07-2009 01:25 PM

Farm subsidies discriminate against small farmers. To regulate what price they can get for their produce without changing the inequality of subsidizing would drive them all out of business for good. In the US it is a problem... The way I see it we pay one way or another, whether in taxes or for higher cost of produce.

**Lothar** · 10-07-2009 04:38 PM

Doubly so with price fixing.

**phrogget** · 10-07-2009 06:20 PM

Originally Posted by LittleBit

Rather than see a tax on unhealthy food, I'd prefer to see regulations placed on good food so that everyone can afford it.

Don't be ridiculous. How will that make the government lots of money...?

Thats what tax is. It's not to dissuade people from doing something, it's to make lot's of cash.

**cerel** · 10-08-2009 12:29 AM

You can't just tax the problem. Fast food is cheap because economies of scale, and cost externalization. Fast food chains are monopolies the government needs to break up. Taxing unhealthy food will just make the price go up, so in the end it only hurts poorer people. Regulating price on healthy food will put small farms out of business. I believe the real problem is corporate lobbying.

**Gutter** · 10-08-2009 03:00 AM

heeh, you guys want to regulate the freedoms of this country...and control what we eat.. and do away with capitalism? i'll tell you to move to a different area and change your life style instead of blaming someone thats making some money off of what you want.

**Trionix** · 10-08-2009 05:42 AM

Of course there should be a fat tax, I've thought so for years.

And while we're at it, I think there should be a local business tax, where we the public pay an extra small amount of money, and it goes to local businesses, to help them compete with fat corporations and multinationals.

**rubytuesday** · 10-08-2009 06:54 AM

Originally Posted by Gutter

heeh, you guys want to regulate the freedoms of this country...and control what we eat.. and do away with capitalism? i'll tell you to move to a different area and change your life style instead of blaming someone thats making some money off of what you want.

Gutter we already do regulate the freedoms of this country. The problem is that the corporations control those regulations instead of the people. So right now the regulations benefit the corporations and end up harming us.

Washington is almost entirely controlled by corporations. See campaign finance laws - or the lack thereof.

We are no longer 'of the people, for the people, by the people'. Heh. We are actually more 'of the corporation, for the corporation, by the corporation' with a token nod to the general populace to keep us complacent. Just as long as we can buy cheap crap at Walmart.

**Brewtality** · 10-08-2009 08:28 AM

Gutter, how is it okay to 'regulate freedom' when it comes to drinking, smoking, sex, drugs etc.. etc.. but not fucking disgusting junk food which poses a serious health risk because of a combination of nutritional and social factors?

I really don't see anything wrong with making fast food more expensive as long as healthy alternatives are affordable. Like I alluded to above though, it's not just the fact that fast food is cheap that leads people to eat shitloads of it, there are social factors in play as well.

**phrogget** · 10-08-2009 11:31 AM

Originally Posted by Brewtality

I really don't see anything wrong with making fast food more expensive as long as healthy alternatives are affordable. Like I alluded to above though, it's not just the fact that fast food is cheap that leads people to eat shitloads of it, there are social factors in play as well.

Why not, instead, regulate the actual fast food industry, forcing them to create healthier products, rather that allow them to sell absolute shite that is damaging to peoples health?

Making it more expensive will ONLY prevent the very poorest people in society from eating it.

Personally, i have no real problem with 'regulated freedom'. What I have a problem with is the government taking money for no actual reason other than because they feel like it under the pretence that it is to benefit society.

Banning junk food would benefit society. Taxing junk food just means people who eat it WILL pay more for it.

**phrogget** · 10-08-2009 11:34 AM

Originally Posted by Trionix

Of course there should be a fat tax, I've thought so for years.

And while we're at it, I think there should be a local business tax, where we the public pay an extra small amount of money, and it goes to local businesses, to help them compete with fat corporations and multinationals.

Hell, lets just give all our money away to anyone who wants it. It's not like we have to work for it

**Gutter** · 10-08-2009 11:31 PM

Originally Posted by rubytuesday

Gutter we already do regulate the freedoms of this country. The problem is that the corporations control those regulations instead of the people. So right now the regulations benefit the corporations and end up harming us.

Washington is almost entirely controlled by corporations. See campaign finance laws - or the lack thereof.

We are no longer 'of the people, for the people, by the people'. Heh. We are actually more 'of the corporation, for the corporation, by the corporation' with a token nod to the general populace to keep us complacent. Just as long as we can buy cheap crap at Walmart.

its not he federal goverments fault that the states turned over there power to them for money.. and that is what everyones complaining about right? like money for health care and social security, money to bail out car companies that employ thousands. money to fix your roads ,highways,money for schools to teach our kids.. etc..
the federal goverment was created mainly for times of war and the states where suppost to support themselves and as this country has grown the states have realied more and more on the federal goverment to do things for it..yeah the systems messed up but not cause of washington

people have willingly given away there freedoms for money and you guys think we should now give our money back for more freedoms?

the difference between drinking/smoking and eating is pretty easy it doesnt effect me when you eat a cheese burger or a hot dog im not going to get cancer by breathing in your farts or sweaty smell when im sitting behind you at a traffic light or at a bar. as where smoking i would and well drinking is the cause of so many problems i dont even wanna list em.

"read my lips no new taxes" didnt that get GW bush senor elected?

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