Would a 17.5% price increase deter you from eating your favorite unhealthy treats? The UK thinks so. Researchers conducted studies and predicted the results of their proposed "fat tax," and they found that their plan could save 3,200 lives per year. How? Well, 30% of deaths from coronary heart disease are caused by unhealthy diets, and they say if unhealthy foods were more expensive, people would be forced to turn to more healthy alternatives.
That's where the problem comes in: "forced." The idea was first pitched to Tony Blair in 2004, and he quickly dismissed it, saying, "People don't want to live in a nanny state."
But, the Department of Public Health at Oxford University is back at it again, lobbying for a "fat tax" that they insist will save lives. They have come up with a scoring system that assigns a certain value to each food. The 17.5% tax would be applied to all fatty, sugary, or salty foods that scored below a certain threshold on the scale. The predicted 3,000+ saved lives would translate to a nearly 2% decrease in nationwide heart attacks and strokes.
This is a tough subject, because it promotes and encourages a healthier diet, but is it also taking away food options for lower income families? A lot of the foods that score low on their "fat tax" meter would be the same processed and vacuum packed meals that many families survive on.
What do you think? Would you support a "fat tax" where you live?
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I hope the US will implement something like this too. Japan increased tobacco tax to at least 20% last year to curb the death toll caused by lung cancer.
Oh, don't get me started on tobacco tax — that should be increased to 2000%!
But I do sympathize a little if what the critics to the fat tax say are true: Lower income families survive predominantly on cheap, vacuum-packed foods, which are the same foods that would be more expensive.
An even better solution, though probably not nearly as likely, was a suggestion from a UK nutritionist asked about the fat tax. He said instead of raising the prices on unhealthy foods, we should reward healthy eaters by lowering the prices of more nutritious foods!
To answer your question, there are times when I would pay A LOT of money for Twinkies! lol I have to indulge every ONCE in a while…
Ugh! I don't see how anyone could even put one of those things in their mouths!
I say go for it. Junk food is just as bad as cigarettes. They aren't going to give it up so we might as well profit from their ignorant spending.