"On Saturday, Denmark became the first country in the world to introduce a "fat tax," surcharge on unhealthy foods that are high in saturated fat in hopes of curbing bad eating habits."
Everything that contains more than 2.3% saturated fat (bacon, butter, pizza, oil, red meat, cheese, milk etc.) will have an extra $1.28 per pound ($2.87 per kilogram) of saturated fat added to the price. They are doing this in order to fight the rate of obesity in their country and to encourage healthier eating. The money that is raised by this additional tax will be used to educate consumers and other obesity-fighting measures.
What are your thoughts on this? Is it right for the government to try to mandate healthier eating? Is it fat that is the culprit? What about taxing sugars and refined carbohydrates as well (or instead)? Do you think that other countries will follow?
Economist Steve Sexton says that instead of taxing food that is fat, we should tax people who are fat. He lays out a way for doctors to report to the government who is fat and who is not (allowing for genetic per-disposition) and then levying a tax on those individuals. Thoughts on this?
wow.... that's like saying that they should burn down all fast food restaurants. Denmark is out of their mind for doing this because it's not going to solve their problem (FACT!). People love to have freedom of choice but with this freedom comes responsibility. If I decide to eat fast-food that I know is unhealthy and contains 80% of my daily calories, that's my decision. By making them more expensive may make me eat less fast food but in the end the price will become relative to everything else... I won't care that it's $1 more (if it tastes good). Plus, most of the things on the list are necessities in a 'healthy' diet. In response to Steve Sexton, that's just unethical and brings about the whole measurement of what society believes is fat. All of these ideas cause more problems than they cure, which makes them disagreeable in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteNowadays, it surprises me that a healthy diet (with fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, eggs, etc.) is more expensive that a precooked diet like frozen food. I think that government should promote a healthier lifestyle but I don’t think that this is a good way. People should have the freedom to choice if they want to eat pizza, chocolate, your birthday cake or whatever once a week and nobody should punish it.
ReplyDeleteIn Spain, there is a problem with obese kids and in order to avoid this lifestyle the government has forbidden the sale of high caloric food and established more required hours of sports at school.
In 2006, Spanish government forbade the BBK Triple Whopper that had 1,040 calories.
I personally think that the way should be like that. We should provide all the nutritional information, not only the calories, and let people choose or only avoid or tax high caloric food.
Although the idea Denmark has to curb obesity and overweight citizens is a good one, I really don't think it's going to solve the issue. This is similar to the concept of putting horrendous pictures on cigarette packs starting in 2012, the people who are already avid smokers are going to continue to buy the cigarettes no matter what kind of picture or message they have on it. Just as with the people in Denmark who are already overweight and midly addicted to unhealthy "fat" foods, they are still going to continue to buy these items, even if there is a tax because they crave them and that's what they enjoy eating. I am curious to see if this is succesful and if other countries take after it. I feel like it caused (will cause) a huge uproar in the fast food industry as I'm sure they'll be taxed or have to raise their prices which will leave many consumers unhappy. One thing will lead to another I'm sure though. First it was banning all sodas and "junk food" to be sold in schools, then higher prices of organic foods, now a tax on foods high in saturated fat. I don't feel as though the government has the right to advise people what they should and shouldn't eat - despite the fact that they are doing it for a positive reason --Sarah Tullgren
ReplyDeleteThis is pretty ridiculous. Butter, oil, red meat, cheese, milk, etc. are pretty much things we use everyday. With tax on these, it's not only the obese people getting charged more but everyone else with them. It sounds more like "only-the-rich-can-eat tax."
ReplyDeleteIf this gets passed, the poor will have to pay more to eat, anything. If we have the fat tax, will the food banks still have the same amount of food to give out to the poor? Will it have a difference in the money they receive for groceries? I think this will only make matters worse.
Also, having doctors determine whether or not you're fat and report to the government makes it seem like a scam a group of doctors are trying to do to make some fast cash. Plus, even if it's legitimate, it'll just be depressing to hear from your doctor,(something along the lines of) "oh, and by the way, you tested positive... for being fat. I need to report that to the government."