Fat Chance for the "Fat Tax"
Fat Chance for the “Fat Tax”
Our bodies and what we put into them is our own business unless someone else is harmed in the process. I can understand a tax on drinkers and smokers because drinkers can harm others when they get behind the wheel of a car, and secondhand smoke is a killer of many, but a tax on what people eat is preposterous. People are still going to eat junk food no matter what the cost is; look at smoking, the price of cigarettes keeps going up but people continue to buy them. People already know that junk food is bad for them, but again and again they resort back to it because of the taste. We cannot depend on our government to help us with everything, we need to be independent and learn from our own mistakes, it’s the only way we will grow as a society. The fat tax would not work because it would make the poor spend more of their already limited income, people would still go back to junk food time after time, and obesity is a dilemma that would not be solved by a simple tax. Obesity and poverty go hand in hand; junk foods are cheap so the poor continue to buy them. By placing this tax we would be taxing the people who couldn’t afford it. Even people that are not obese would be affected by the tax, people like the taste of junk foods whether they are overweight or not. The poor would only end up poorer if the tax was set because even if they did stop buying junk foods, they would still have to pay more money for a healthy alternative. The tax could possibly end up making us a healthier nation… possibly; but one thing for sure is it would definitely make us a poorer nation. Alan Maryon-Davis, President of the UK Faculty of Public Health stated that, “The downside of the tax is that it’s regressive in terms of it would hit the poorest hardest, and in the current climate when people are struggling to make a living, it’s a difficult balance.” Establishing this tax could also lead to job cuts at corporations that have popular products that are
Our bodies and what we put into them is our own business unless someone else is harmed in the process. I can understand a tax on drinkers and smokers because drinkers can harm others when they get behind the wheel of a car, and secondhand smoke is a killer of many, but a tax on what people eat is preposterous. People are still going to eat junk food no matter what the cost is; look at smoking, the price of cigarettes keeps going up but people continue to buy them. People already know that junk food is bad for them, but again and again they resort back to it because of the taste. We cannot depend on our government to help us with everything, we need to be independent and learn from our own mistakes, it’s the only way we will grow as a society. The fat tax would not work because it would make the poor spend more of their already limited income, people would still go back to junk food time after time, and obesity is a dilemma that would not be solved by a simple tax. Obesity and poverty go hand in hand; junk foods are cheap so the poor continue to buy them. By placing this tax we would be taxing the people who couldn’t afford it. Even people that are not obese would be affected by the tax, people like the taste of junk foods whether they are overweight or not. The poor would only end up poorer if the tax was set because even if they did stop buying junk foods, they would still have to pay more money for a healthy alternative. The tax could possibly end up making us a healthier nation… possibly; but one thing for sure is it would definitely make us a poorer nation. Alan Maryon-Davis, President of the UK Faculty of Public Health stated that, “The downside of the tax is that it’s regressive in terms of it would hit the poorest hardest, and in the current climate when people are struggling to make a living, it’s a difficult balance.” Establishing this tax could also lead to job cuts at corporations that have popular products that are
Cited: Engber, Daniel. “Let Them Drink Water! What a fat tax really means for America.” Slate. 21 September 2009. Article. 19 November 2010. Satin, Mort. “Fat tax falls flat.” saltinstitute. Salt Institute. 29 July 2009. Web. 20 November 2010. Wilkins, Rebecca. “Danes impose 25% tax increases on ice cream, chocolate, and sweets to curb disease.” bmj. BMJ. 6 July 2010. Web. 20 November 2010.