Arnold
Lara MFat Tax
July 17th 2007 07:23
Suggestions have been made by researchers at Oxford University for what has been deemed a ‘fat tax’.
This has fallen upon criticism for two reasons. Firstly that the government isn’t responsible for acting as ‘nanny’ for its citizens in all matters, as free choice reigns. The second and more important problem is that this tax will probably hit low income earning families the hardest, as they tend to be the biggest consumers of unhealthy food in the first place. If they continue their eating habits the already considerably high cost of food will rise, and if they switch to healthier alternatives their costs will probably rise too. I was absolutely horrified at the cost of fruit and vegetables this week, having spent $7 for four apples and with bananas back up at $7.80 a kilo.And also, not surprisingly, has been strongly objected to by private enterprise.
I believe that these criticisms are probably quite fair, but it does not appear that the problem has been approached laterally. It is probably unlikely that the reverse would ever occur, such as making healthy foods tax exempt or some other government incentive to lower the price. Alternatively, perhaps there could also be legal packaging requirements, such as warning notes on packets of particularly unhealthy foods, similar to cigarette packets.
Reference: Really Long Link
This has fallen upon criticism for two reasons. Firstly that the government isn’t responsible for acting as ‘nanny’ for its citizens in all matters, as free choice reigns. The second and more important problem is that this tax will probably hit low income earning families the hardest, as they tend to be the biggest consumers of unhealthy food in the first place. If they continue their eating habits the already considerably high cost of food will rise, and if they switch to healthier alternatives their costs will probably rise too. I was absolutely horrified at the cost of fruit and vegetables this week, having spent $7 for four apples and with bananas back up at $7.80 a kilo.And also, not surprisingly, has been strongly objected to by private enterprise.
I believe that these criticisms are probably quite fair, but it does not appear that the problem has been approached laterally. It is probably unlikely that the reverse would ever occur, such as making healthy foods tax exempt or some other government incentive to lower the price. Alternatively, perhaps there could also be legal packaging requirements, such as warning notes on packets of particularly unhealthy foods, similar to cigarette packets.
Reference: Really Long Link
http://www.sxc.hu/photo/827946
| 26 |
| Vote |
Subscribe to this blog
