Currently in America there is an underlying problem that has been slowly creeping upon our society throughout the past century and even further back. America’s underlying problem is obesity and this needs to be dealt with in some way. I propose the use of a fat tax upon all of America’s food products. A fat tax is defined as “a tax levied in the form of high duties or Vat on foods with a high fat content” this essentially says that foods that are high in fat can be taxed at any rate the government deems suitable. I personally think there should be a fat tax instituted into American society but with many ins and outs. Due to obese people should pay more for fatty foods rather than those that aren’t over weight paying more- at the same time healthier foods need to be more available. In a way my opinion contradicts itself, therefore I think that the government should apply a universal tax for being overweight and also tax the foods that are unhealthy making the option of healthy foods more viable. In my opinion a fat tax needs to be applied to America as a whole to counteract our current obesity epidemic.
Most of these taxes are being considered to be placed upon fast food restaurants today in America as a way to combat obesity. The basic idea of a fat tax was first brought up in 1942 by U.S. physiologist A.J. Carlson- he proposed that for every pound of being overweight that there be a fee on the person that is overweight. This idea was shot down due to the fact that America was in the midst of World War 2 and had other more important things to focus on, such as war efforts. A recent 2010 poll by CBS news shows that a fat tax or so called junk food tax is opposed by up to 72% of Americas. This in a way is a representation to myself that many people who are overweight oppose this idea, this is in a way verified that in 2010 73.8% of Americans are overweight according to webmd (http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20100210/percentage-of-overweight-obese-americans-swells).
The actual use of a fat tax in America can be compared to European countries that have instituted and used a fat tax- the actual use of a fat tax is currently occurring in Denmark as of October 2011, the tax applies to; butter, milk, cheese, pizza, meat, oil and any other item that contains 2.3% or more saturated fat. Some governments look at this as a solution for the obesity epidemic in their own country- Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron was reported saying that he was considering introducing a fat tax to solve Britain’s current obesity issues. I think that America needs to go over a possible fat tax and consider implying a fat tax just as Britain is considering. America along with many other European countries, are considering placing such a tax on unhealthy food to better their countries health. An example of such a tax working to solve health issues is with cigarettes and alcohol- America has added tremendous increases in taxes on these products to combat the use and over use. In my opinion the same concept can be discerned with a fat tax that people will use the product at a much lesser constant than they currently do so that in a way as I said you would be taxing the food but indirectly taxing the person that most buys the food.
While researching the issue I came across this article from forbes. The following quotation taken talks about the change in American society due to the implication and/or raise of taxes on a product that is unhealthy. According to forbes: “Taxing some subset of people, such as the obese, might be unappealing for politicians who are periodically seeking reelection from those very same people. A natural alternative would be to fight obesity the way American policy makers have fought smoking – tax the substance, not the abuser. In smoking’s case, the current average tax on a pack of cigarettes is approximately $2.46, $1.01 of which is Federal tax). Smoking is an easy target as it essentially one product and one ingredient.” (http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidmaris/2012/04/19/is-a-tax-on-obesity-in-americas-future/). This generally states that the food tax would be presented as a tax on the substance and not the abuser of the product containing the substances. This shows that implying such a law as I said that taxes the abuser rather than the substance would only make people angry, but if you tax the substance within its harder for people to get angry, because it presents an alternative I.E. healthy foods. For example Jim buys a two liter of soda and a bag of potato chips every day and he is well over weight pushing 300+ pounds. Jim’s government places a tax on saturated fats- both the soda and chips contains saturated fat. This tax therefore ups the price on Jim’s two liter of soda and his bag of potato chips, of which then makes Jim unable to afford his product day to day forcing him to buy cheaper products that would conceptually be healthier foods, Jim then is unconsciously put onto a diet and begins to lose weight. The whole concept of this revolves around the price of unhealthy foods costing more than the price of foods that are healthy.
A fat tax would help the abuser of the substance and force him or her in to unconsciously buy healthier items. In the long run of things the fat tax would force soda companies, potato chip companies and other companies that produce food with something like saturated fat to produce healthier products of which will then help the company get more revenue- this in return would eliminate a lot of the fatty foods that in are today’s grocery stores and super markets. I believe that the fat tax is necessary in many ways in America at the moment due to the fact that as a country we truly have an obesity epidemic. In my opinion the implication of something like this is needed to help future generations so that we as a country don’t change the word obesity in the future to the point that in today’s standards people would be considered obese. The only true question is why tax the substance rather than the abuser when some don’t abuse the substance and are not obese what so ever.
Most of these taxes are being considered to be placed upon fast food restaurants today in America as a way to combat obesity. The basic idea of a fat tax was first brought up in 1942 by U.S. physiologist A.J. Carlson- he proposed that for every pound of being overweight that there be a fee on the person that is overweight. This idea was shot down due to the fact that America was in the midst of World War 2 and had other more important things to focus on, such as war efforts. A recent 2010 poll by CBS news shows that a fat tax or so called junk food tax is opposed by up to 72% of Americas. This in a way is a representation to myself that many people who are overweight oppose this idea, this is in a way verified that in 2010 73.8% of Americans are overweight according to webmd (http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20100210/percentage-of-overweight-obese-americans-swells).
The actual use of a fat tax in America can be compared to European countries that have instituted and used a fat tax- the actual use of a fat tax is currently occurring in Denmark as of October 2011, the tax applies to; butter, milk, cheese, pizza, meat, oil and any other item that contains 2.3% or more saturated fat. Some governments look at this as a solution for the obesity epidemic in their own country- Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron was reported saying that he was considering introducing a fat tax to solve Britain’s current obesity issues. I think that America needs to go over a possible fat tax and consider implying a fat tax just as Britain is considering. America along with many other European countries, are considering placing such a tax on unhealthy food to better their countries health. An example of such a tax working to solve health issues is with cigarettes and alcohol- America has added tremendous increases in taxes on these products to combat the use and over use. In my opinion the same concept can be discerned with a fat tax that people will use the product at a much lesser constant than they currently do so that in a way as I said you would be taxing the food but indirectly taxing the person that most buys the food.
While researching the issue I came across this article from forbes. The following quotation taken talks about the change in American society due to the implication and/or raise of taxes on a product that is unhealthy. According to forbes: “Taxing some subset of people, such as the obese, might be unappealing for politicians who are periodically seeking reelection from those very same people. A natural alternative would be to fight obesity the way American policy makers have fought smoking – tax the substance, not the abuser. In smoking’s case, the current average tax on a pack of cigarettes is approximately $2.46, $1.01 of which is Federal tax). Smoking is an easy target as it essentially one product and one ingredient.” (http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidmaris/2012/04/19/is-a-tax-on-obesity-in-americas-future/). This generally states that the food tax would be presented as a tax on the substance and not the abuser of the product containing the substances. This shows that implying such a law as I said that taxes the abuser rather than the substance would only make people angry, but if you tax the substance within its harder for people to get angry, because it presents an alternative I.E. healthy foods. For example Jim buys a two liter of soda and a bag of potato chips every day and he is well over weight pushing 300+ pounds. Jim’s government places a tax on saturated fats- both the soda and chips contains saturated fat. This tax therefore ups the price on Jim’s two liter of soda and his bag of potato chips, of which then makes Jim unable to afford his product day to day forcing him to buy cheaper products that would conceptually be healthier foods, Jim then is unconsciously put onto a diet and begins to lose weight. The whole concept of this revolves around the price of unhealthy foods costing more than the price of foods that are healthy.
A fat tax would help the abuser of the substance and force him or her in to unconsciously buy healthier items. In the long run of things the fat tax would force soda companies, potato chip companies and other companies that produce food with something like saturated fat to produce healthier products of which will then help the company get more revenue- this in return would eliminate a lot of the fatty foods that in are today’s grocery stores and super markets. I believe that the fat tax is necessary in many ways in America at the moment due to the fact that as a country we truly have an obesity epidemic. In my opinion the implication of something like this is needed to help future generations so that we as a country don’t change the word obesity in the future to the point that in today’s standards people would be considered obese. The only true question is why tax the substance rather than the abuser when some don’t abuse the substance and are not obese what so ever.