"Fat Tax", Are You For or Against?

[melodramocracy]

"The endgame is to deter people from fatty foods by charging them more"

No, the endgame is to fucking generate additional income. End of story. Much like taxes on cigarettes, what happens is that a) the tax goes in place. b) there's an influx of tax money. c) people quit smoking. d) local gov'ts now find themselves with less income, and now need other ways to make up for it. e) rinse, repeat.

It's. All. Bullshit.

There's nothing worse than taxation trying to dress itself up in a 'benefit for society' costume. It's almost as pathetic as corporations citing globalization efforts as anything other than the chase for higher profit margins.

[therealpeni]

this is very silly, and i wonder how some can say yes, while not everyone eats loads of junk food so to say, i'm sure 95% defo does eat it now and then, or more.
which means, while the "fatties" do get to pay quite a bunch more, neither you are saved from it.

[belfpala]

I don't really care either way. Cigarettes and alcohol are taxed an incredible amount where I live, yet people still smoke and drink. People will do what people do.

I guess for me it depends what the tax pays for.

[Deleted]

Taxing "unhealthy food" is a crock. Beyond your basic macros a calorie is a calorie regardless of what type of food its came from and as long as your not exceeding your daily calorie maintenance you'll not gain weight. You can put on a lot of weight very easily eating "healthy" foods or even as a strict vegetarian. The roman gladiators were vegan, eatings predominantly pulses and cereals, with the express aim of PUTTING ON A THICK LAYER OF FAT to protect against slashing wounds. Tax fatty food? No. Fatty will flub get over it.

[BloodSense]

So who decides what is healthy and what is unhealthy?

Your ancestors survived on a diet of red meat and primitively processed cereal grains, so in essence they lived on fat and carbohydrates but obesity was rarely a problem until modern times. It's not the fat and carbs that cause the problem, is the additives and preservatives that keep your body from properly breaking down and digesting the nutrients in the food you eat. Is it really the fat in a big mac that is making you unhealthy, or is the 30 chemicals you cant pronounce the names of that they add so they can get away with leaving the meat patty in a freezer for 8 months, and then server it in a restaurant. The unfortunate truth of the fact is that unless the "healthy" food you eat is organically produced without additives, then it can be just as bad for you as a burger from a fast food joint, and that's what makes laws like this subjective and mostly bullshit. If you can tax a cheeseburger because its an unhealthy food, shouldn't you also tax the lean store bought beef that contains hormones that have been linked to heart disease? Where is the line drawn?

If you want to leave it to education to let everyone know what they should and shouldn't eat, well that's fine, and I won't speak for other countries, but I can pretty much attest to the fact that nutritional education in the US is shit. To this day, they still push milk on people even though it widely considered to be unhealthy because most people lose their ability to digest it by their late teens. How can you teach children they should drink X glasses a milk a day for calcium when something like 80% of Americans over the age of 18 are lactose intolerant? Hell, there is as much calcium in 1 glass of orange juice as there is in 3 glasses of milk, and your daily fill of vitamin C as well, but I was never told to drink that for breakfast in school, it was always milk milk milk.

Fact of the matter is, we know so little about nutrition and there is so much variation in human metabolism that it's unfair for any governing body to dictate what is healthy and unhealthy. If they really wanted make an impact on the health of their people, they'd force companies to stop adding things like synthetic silicon or artificial sugars to foods. This is just another cash grab and nothing more. It didn't work with cigarettes and alcohol, and it wont work with food.

[silentk59]

The government doesn't care for you, they care for your money.

^ This.

Anybody for that tax is an idiot. Its appalling they would even try to pass something like that. If anything fat people contribute more to society and the economy. We eat more and pay for more food, our clothes take more fabrics and therefor cost more. We pay for extra seats on a plane and obviously spend more money on internet services and home ridden stuff since we apparently sit at home all day. All in all we spend more money then skinny people do just to survive so to say they need to be taxed more is just plain retarded. XD

[TitanTyr]

I am against it. However, on this particular thread, all I get it is "DON'T WANT GOV'T MESSING WHAT I EAT". Okay that's fine but what do you propose? If I was against this, I would call for cheaper, healthy food that way I can choose. Its either prices of healthy food go down, or junk food goes up to match the price of healthy food. And about the education bit, Where are the parents at? I mean sure we can teach the children about eating healthy but we also teach parents about it as well. Maybe then, people won't be like the fat people from WALL-E.

[Deleted]

No, no, no. It is none of government business.
And is has nothing to do with keeping population "healthy", look at how alcohol and cigarettes are taxed, yet people still drink and smoke. Just another way how to get more money from people.

I really don't understand how someone might be for this...

[dragmasil]

ok so now who's fault is that? lol. Losing weight is really not complex, it just takes some willpower, some that a lot of us lack. did you know you can eat nothing but fatty foods and still be thin? its called counting calories. saying that it's genetic or that kids live in fatty households and grow up only on fatty foods is really just a cop out. the largest factor in being fat is controlling what you eat and how much you eat of it. if you just have to have those large portions of hamburgers then go running.

So you and one other person on here (cant find him) seem to have a serious problem with people because they are fat, maybe if someone being overweight bugs you that much, and you have that much hate you should go out in the middle of the street and shoot yourself because your never going to make it through life.

[Deleted]

It's none of my government's business. I pay absurd taxes as it is and they decide to spend my taxes on other countries and pointless conflicts. If they're saying they're feeling the strain on a health care system because of obesity, well that's something they can part address themselves by not wasting taxpayer money.

[Envisionist]

I rarely eat unhealthy, but to tax people because of it? You guys want to feed our government more undeserved money? There is already a retarded sin tax that I don't agree, why add more to it?

[belfpala]

I am against it. However, on this particular thread, all I get it is "DON'T WANT GOV'T MESSING WHAT I EAT". Okay that's fine but what do you propose? If I was against this, I would call for cheaper, healthy food that way I can choose. Its either prices of healthy food go down, or junk food goes up to match the price of healthy food. And about the education bit, Where are the parents at? I mean sure we can teach the children about eating healthy but we also teach parents about it as well. Maybe then, people won't be like the fat people from WALL-E.

Good point. Find a way to make it easier and more cost effective for large supermarkets to stock local, seasonal food.

Honestly, once you eat proper vegetables, you'll never go back to the imported chemically treated crap they have at most stores.

Could even go further and give tax benefits for exercise...

---------- Post added 2012-02-05 at 12:32 AM ----------

People really are for fat taxes? Well than lets tax slow people, gay people, whatever other lifestyle choice the majority doesn't agree with.

It's not a tax on fat people. It's a tax on fatty foods.

[Deleted]

People really are for fat taxes? Well than lets tax slow people, gay people, whatever other lifestyle choice the majority doesn't agree with.

yes please! tax slow people!

[Kalyyn]

It's nobody's business what I eat (as long as it's not people) or how fat I want to be. I bet you were freaking out when SOPA/ACTA tried to take your internet away.

So stay the fuck away from my donuts. -.-

in b4 US-vs-Euro argument.

I was going to vote "for", but then I saw this. And you know what, Siq1ne? You are 100% right.

[Diavolui]

Discouraging =/= prevention, this is nothing like censorship, it's more like charging extra for unnecessary things.

[belfpala]

yes please! tax slow people!

Nah, slow people are fine. Tax slow drivers.

---------- Post added 2012-02-05 at 12:34 AM ----------

Discouraging =/= prevention, this is nothing like censorship, it's more like charging extra for unnecessary things.

Right, a luxury tax.

[Deleted]

Nah, slow people are fine. Tax slow drivers.

---------- Post added 2012-02-05 at 12:34 AM ----------



Right, a luxury tax.

i think slow drivers come under slow people, tax them both!

[zcks]

i'm for it. use that tax money to send food to people who aren't eating at all.

Generally as a rule of thumb anything the government gets involved in they only make more complicated, expensive & eventually ruin.
So no I'm against it.

If your tired of paying for fat peoples health care then write a provision in the law saying if your so much over the healthy level of the body fat index then you won't receive health care & government funded hospitals won't have to help you.

As for feeding the poor. I have a solution for that.

It has to do with the law that is getting passed in Texas. Basically the law says if more then X (right now it's 5) amount of credible I witnesses saw you commit a murder you will be rushed to the front of the execution line.


I would basically go one further & apply the soylent green idea.

That means instead of throwing psychopathic murderers into prison or a nut house for life then proving a proper burial when they die we could instead kill them immediately & use them to feed the poor & homeless.

[Syenite]

Overall this tax made food so much more expensive; i can hardly afford any decent food anymore :<<

[Deleted]

It's our business when someone's obesity causes them to get diabetes or makes them otherwise ill and our taxes have to pay to take care of them.

There are a lot more things that are bad for us that could use tax, rather than doing it on something like this. I'm neutral, if all of it would go to people who can't eat at all I'd be happy if it passed...but since the tax money will go to other crap that I dislike I will vote against.