Should there be Fat Tax?

[Kapitan_Phillips]

Cant..stop...laughing..

[STEED]

Head-to-head: Fat tax
Like the rest of the developed world, obesity poses a serious problem for the UK.
Latest figures suggest nearly a quarter of the population is clinically obese, and almost 10% of deaths are obesity-related.
Some people believe radical solutions - such as new taxes - are required.



GILES COREN
Times columnist and restaurant critic
I would take the square root of the Body Mass Index, so you get a nice curving graph so you can apply it in a proportional way.
I would then divide it by 100 and multiply it by your tax liability.

It is a lack of restraint, a lack of self-respect
Giles Coren


For example, if your BMI is 36 - which is probably what John Prescott's is - you take the square root of that, which would be six, and divide it by 100, giving you a figure of 6%.
Then, suppose your tax liability is £10,000, you would pay an extra £600 a year in tax.
Being overweight is not an addiction - it didn't exist 50 years ago.
It is a lack of restraint, a lack of self-respect. A lot of it is to do with a lack of education, and a failure to understand things such as the nutritional value of the things they eat.
The Liberal Democrats have occasionally mooted things like a sugar tax, and people have talked about taxing the saturated fat content of processed foods.
It seems to be a reasonable way to go, but it is not really fair on me.
I am able to control myself and eat a bag of chips every now and again, so there is no reason why I should have to pay more.
My idea does sound a bit absurd, but it is just an extreme and very direct attempt at a solution, because this really is a huge crisis and something drastic does need to be done.

Body Mass Index is calculated by dividing your weight in kilograms by the square of your height in metres. A BMI of 25 to 29.9 is considered overweight and one 30 or above is considered obese.
DR IAN CAMPBELL
GP and Medical Director of the charity Weight Concern
When I first read about his suggestions I had to check the date, I thought it was 1 April: it is a complete joke.
There is no way you could tax people according to their weight. It is bureaucratically a nightmare, and it would also be grossly unfair.

Make sure that there is an environment out there which is conducive to a healthier lifestyle
Dr Ian Campbell

Those in the lower socio-economic groups are much more likely to be overweight and obese.
About 26% of those who are financially challenged are obese, compared with 17% in more affluent categories.
So what you really would be doing is putting a tax on the poor, and I think that is completely and utterly unjustifiable.
What we need to be doing is incentivising people, and encouraging them and supporting them, not punishing them by these nonsensical suggestions.
The real answer lies in recognising for the first time that environment and health are inextricably linked. What we have to do is make sure that there is an environment out there which is conducive to a healthier lifestyle, and not to completely and utterly stigmatise these people.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/h...th/5051248.stm

Published: 2006/06/06 09:05:37 GMT

© BBC MMVI

A fat tax will not work if fat people want to eat junk food they will just like smokers who pay the tax so they can smoke. There is only one way to deal with this problem and that's the surgical method, shut down all these fast food joints and ban chocolates, cakes, biscuits, fizzy pop the whole dam lot.

It's all filth which we don't need in our diet all this crap is no good to anyone ban it and get rid of it out right. By doing this people would be healthier and would start acting better and enjoying life, by getting shot of all the junk food you would get rid of a good 90% of the chemical muck that's in food as well.

[CB..]

Originally Posted by STEED

A fat tax will not work if fat people want to eat junk food they will just like smokers who pay the tax so they can smoke. There is only one way to deal with this problem and that's the surgical method, shut down all these fast food joints and ban chocolates, cakes, biscuits, fizzy pop the whole dam lot.

It's all filth which we don't need in our diet all this crap is no good to anyone ban it and get rid of it out right. By doing this people would be healthier and would start acting better and enjoying life, by getting shot of all the junk food you would get rid of a good 90% of the chemical muck that's in food as well.

who's going to break the news to Coca Cola and Macdonalds both huge international companys that you are going to tax their products on the basis that they are un healthy--- we handed several generations of young people to them on a plate by adding their products or similar to the school canteens--talk about product placement -- they couldn't have wished for better assistance from the government--bit like having an officail cocaine dealer in all primary and secondary school canteens--then complaining at the increase in cocaine addicts on our streets-not a very convincing complaint nah we've all been played for a sucker--obese people don't tend to live too far beyond retirement age--so that will help ease the pensions crisis at the same time--the government is trying to have it both ways-and acting the innocent- it knows exactly what it's doing--

[STEED]

Originally Posted by CB..

who's going to break the news to Coca Cola and Macdonalds both huge international companys that you are going to tax their products on the basis that they are un healthy

Tax them no I would shut them down, but I know as everyone else dose. Not a thing will be done about fat people,smokers,alcoholics,drug addicts and so on.

[CB..]

Originally Posted by STEED

Tax them no I would shut them down, all of them if I had my way. But I know as everyone else dose not a thing will be done about fat people,smokers,alcoholics,drug addicts and so on.

well there's your basic dichotomy--no one's going to shut Coca Cola or Macdonalds down

this way big buisness gets to make money out of the misery that it not only generated in the first place but now perpeptuates ---the government gets to look trendy by reversing it's decision about allowing junk food manufacturers to sell their goods in schools--(maddeningly because a tv chef pointed it out to them on national TV--not because any political party raised any objection--hint hint)
we instigate a proganda regime to vilify obese people- there by encouraging those obese people who are susceptable to low self esteem to continue to suffer from low self esteem (and if their not un happy we'll damn well do our best to make them un happy)
the medical industry can now make a fortune making and selling anti-depressants--and all those diet plan/ health food product manufacturers that have traditionly had their market limited to women get a 50% increase in their potential customer base--
want to know why the economy seems to be bouncing along quite well with no visable means of support--there's your reason
obese people are a product produced by big buisness for big buisness--without them and many other consumers the economy would crash
it's just buisness--

[STEED]

This is the core of the problem; big companies who make this crap don’t give a toss how many people they kill with their fat products. It’s all profit to them big money and they love it.

[Gizzmoe]

Originally Posted by STEED

This is the core of the problem; big companies who make this crap don’t give a toss how many people they kill with their fat products. It’s all profit to them big money and they love it.

The people are the problem, not the companies. No one forces them to eat that **** on a regular basis.

[CB..]

Originally Posted by Gizzmoe

The people are the problem, not the companies. No one forces them to eat that ****.

you see what i mean ...it's perfect.. the companys get to sell their products
the consumer gets the blame for any harmfull side effects-- now we know why the advertisment excecutives get such huge salarys--no offence Gizz'

[Gizzmoe]

Originally Posted by CB..

you see what i mean ...it's perfect.. the companys get to sell their products the consumer gets the blame for any harmfull side effects-- now we know why the advertisment excecutives get such huge salarys--no offence Gizz'

*I* know why I am too fat, it´s because I drink too much beer. I´m not surprised that I gained 25kg in one year. It´s not like you have your perfect weight one day and next morning you wake up and suddenly became obese. It takes a long time and effort to become fat. People should start to wonder when they become more and more fat, but it seems that many people don´t and then blame everything on this planet except themselves.

[CB..]

Originally Posted by Gizzmoe

*I* know why I am too fat, it´s because I drink too much beer. I´m not surprised that I gained 25kg in one year, other people maybe are. It´s not like you have your perfect weight one day and next morning you wake up and suddenly became obese. It takes a long time and effort to become fat. People should start to wonder when they become more and more fat, but it seems that many people don´t and then blame everything on this planet except themselves.

hey i'm as thin as a rake--im one of those lucky people who can eat several horses and not gain a pound--but sooner or later they will get round to me--

[STEED]

Originally Posted by Gizzmoe

The people are the problem, not the companies. No one forces them to eat that **** on a regular basis.

Sorry Gizzmoe you fell into the trap, if these big companies did not produce this crap then people would not be fat, because there would be no fat crap to eat.

[Gizzmoe]

Originally Posted by STEED

Sorry Gizzmoe you fell into the trap, if these big companies did not produce this crap then people would not be fat, because there would be no fat crap to eat.

It´s not that easy! You can also easily become fat on non-processed, non-crap natural home-made food. Think of grilled pork belly, all kind of healthy but calorie-rich oils like olive oil, herb butter added to your lean steak, the skin of a fried chicken, asparagus with melted butter, coffee or tea with too much cream, heavy cream sauces, too many dairy products and so on. When you eat (or drink) more calories than you need you gain weight, simple rule...

[CB..]

look this isn't a case of wether fat people should be held responsible for their body weight-- it's a case of wether big buisness should be allowed to run rampant over every single charitable desire left on the face of the earth--it is that simple---every-one knows the various issues involved in weight gain/weight loss---but this is a much wider issue---

some body spent an awfull lot of money and many many generations making coca-cola and macdonalds "cool" and they will continue to spend an awfull lot of money ensuring that they remain "cool"...

nothing.. no consideration what so ever will be allowed to stand in the way of that----this isn't about any particular product neccessarily- it's about the manipulation of the general populace by big buisness and the tendency that is creeping into day to day and long term Politics for big buisness to govern our countrys--

the labour party just happens to be sponsered by coca cola and macdonalds--not sure who sponsors the conservative party or the lib dems-- we'll have to wait and see...

whilst were scouring the world searching for theats to our democracy we might be wise to spend some time looking a little closer to home--

other wise eventually we'll be voting at election time from a list of commercail companys we want to run our countrys not political partys..

there is a point where big buisness and democracy starts to become incompatible--

[STEED]

Originally Posted by CB..

other wise eventually we'll be voting at election time from a list of commercail companys

You are voting for them they control the political party's.

But I do agree with you CB it's a more than too do with a fat person. Big Companies that produce this junk, advertisement companies advertising this junk and making it look good and so on.

[joea]

Originally Posted by STEED

A fat tax will not work if fat people want to eat junk food they will just like smokers who pay the tax so they can smoke. There is only one way to deal with this problem and that's the surgical method, shut down all these fast food joints and ban chocolates, cakes, biscuits, fizzy pop the whole dam lot.

It's all filth which we don't need in our diet all this crap is no good to anyone ban it and get rid of it out right. By doing this people would be healthier and would start acting better and enjoying life, by getting shot of all the junk food you would get rid of a good 90% of the chemical muck that's in food as well.

This is one of the most stupid suggestions I have seen here on the site. So ban fast food....McDonald's and the like...do you ban the local kebab joint? Ban the nice Italian pizza restaurant with homemade pizza and tiramisu (very rich loverly dessert) cause you can also get fat? Will the fat police break down the door to my parent's home at Xmas and confiscate my Mom's bakalava and Xmas biscuits?

No really this is rather arbitrary....txing some stuff might work (btw DARK chocolate is not bad for you and can have some beneficial effects) Read what Gizzmoe posted as well. Beer...mmmmm.