The effectiveness of the fat tax
Elasticity: when consumer is changing pattern of buying according to the change in price, eg. When its espcial they tend to buy more and if the price rises they don’t want a lot and if they don’t need they don’t even buy it.
Inelasticity: when consumers buy products that they need the most and even if the price rise they buy it. Basic needs products, and if the prise is low they don’t buy more than what they need.
The link between the consumption of high-fat foods and obesity is well established. Mounting concern about the increasing incidence of obesity in many countries has sparked debate about the merit of an explicit ‘fat tax’, aimed at either taxing foods according to their fat content or, more practically, taxing certain foods with a high fat content.
Discuss the implications and effectiveness of a fat tax for reducing the consumption of high-fat foods?
Taxing food according to their fat content Taxing foods according to their fat content would be the most effective way of implementing a fat tax Consequence * To obese individuals, unhealthy foods and beverages such as pies and coke may be considered a necessity in their diet but to healthy individual’s pies and coke may be something which is consumed once in a while, therefore, if foods are taxed to their fat content, both obese and healthy individuals will be affected financially. * Effectiveness * Although obese individuals are less responsive to changes in price than normal sized individuals, when tax is incurred with food according to their fat content, as shown in Figure 1, it would make a bigger impact because price and the quantity demanded would both increase but since every food would be taxed, individuals would purchase less as they would have to be spending more on fewer goods. * Taxing certain food that contain high fat content There are more costs to benefits Consequence Such as