An interesting concept: reduce obesity by taxing unhealthy foods. Here's a summary of the piece's main points:
In America's ongoing battle of the bulge, one strategy to combat the nation's obesity epidemic has generated more than a decade's worth of attention and controversy. Popularly known as the "fat tax" or the "Twinkie tax," the concept first gained widespread attention in 1994.
Addressing what he called a "dire set of circumstances," Brownell proposed two food-tax options: A big tax, in the range of 7 percent to 10 percent, to discourage the purchase of unhealthy processed foods while subsidizing healthier choices; or a much smaller tax to fund long-term public health nutrition programs.
One big problem is that money collected through fat taxes has typically not been earmarked for obesity-prevention programs or healthy food subsidies; instead they were often used to cover budget deficits.
Concerns have also been raised that such a tax is inherently regressive, meaning it punishes poorer people who must spend much of their limited income on food.
Interesting idea. But is the problem the food or people's lack of control? (BTW, it's the same issue with credit cards.) If someone eats a bad food but is healthy and of normal weight, why should she have to pay the tax? Shouldn't we just tax people over a certain weight limit (according to height/body type)?
No matter how you look at it, this idea just seems too fraught with bad issues to work. Though the thought of a 1-cent tax on sodas alone generating that kind of money is certainly tempting!!!!
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