Waist banned - Does a tax on junk food make sense?

Economist ^ | July 30 2009

[1000 silverlings]

Well I know some parts of California cities don't have any because of looters and burning them down during riots. They do have liquor stores tho and Mom and Pop stores that overcharge for everything. Imposing this tax would just put a heavier burden on people who have to shop at those places.

And I was poor for most of my life, only after running my own businesses did I escape it.

[MEGoody]

Soylent Green is PEOPLE!!!!!

[1000 silverlings]

Well they’ll get shot, but then that’ll eliminate the problem of healthcare, I guess

[swarthyguy]

Now you’re thinking...:>> way outside the box, and if the revulsion can be overcome, the protein can be recycled and put to good use.

I see the GreenUtopia shining upon the hill.

[Nervous Tick]

>> 2. What’s “mortal coil”? Is that a literary analogy?

Naw, it’s a car part. As in, “I was poking around under the hood with a screwdriver, and I drew an ‘arc upon my mortal coil’ that knocked my butt into the dirt.”

[RockyMtnMan]

Just a matter of time at this point.

[swarthyguy]

>>>>What’s “mortal coil”? Is that a literary analogy?

>>Naw, it’s a car part.

Have you two met before?

[1000 silverlings]

Well there are the rumors about KFC in inner cities deepfrying rats... roadkill might be just around the corner

[swarthyguy]

A new SONIC just opened in my neck of the woods, perhaps the first one around here.

I’m gonna be sitting there eating hotdogs and shakes, windows open and AC on, then go for a long digestif cruise in my guzzler!

Junkfood - check, carbonemission - check - general wasting of the planet’s hydrocarbons - check.

[ohioman]

I think swarthy is being sarcastic.

[vpintheak]

From fiction to reality! Brought to you by the Obamanation that causes desolation.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Waist banned - Does a tax on junk food make sense?

Sure it does - to those who think that government taxes are a good way to regulate the behavior of others.

Taxes exist to pay for essential services only a government can provide. They do not (or at least should not) exist to allow the control-freaks of society to try to punish those behaviors they happen to dislike.

[Kenny Bunk]

Never use a screwdriver on a mortal coil, pal!

Ya gotta kinda shuffle it off. I guess you found that out the hard way.

[GeronL]

I think that is very likely myself

[Brookhaven]

Exactly.

It is not the government’s role to “guide” our lives. The purpose of the government is to create an enviroment that allows me to live my life any dang way I please (and that includes not rescuing me when I screw it up.)

[GSWarrior]

It would very likely make fast food purveyors lower their prices to offset the increase in taxes that consumers would encounter.

This is what happened with cigarettes. Cigarette prices are basically the same--or even lower--as they were 6 years ago when I quit smoking.

[DannyTN]

No, because there is no consensus on what is junk food.

Commercial interests push junk food as “healthy”, when nothing could be further from the truth.

The “You are what you eat” crowd blames fat for obesity. The “Atkins” crowd blames carbs.

[1000 silverlings]

Hey maybe there’ll be illegal fast food smuggling, be a good business. Get some clunkers and cash from chunkers

[ctdonath2]

Thanks to government health-care plans such as Medicare half of America’s obesity-related health costs land on taxpayers.

Maybe the problem isn't the obesity, it's that Medicare isn't an issue delegated to the federal gov't by the Constitution. End Medicare, and BMI isn't a taxpayer problem any more.

[Kenny Bunk]

Laugh away, swarthy, I just turned you in to The Anointed One for making fun of this very serious matter. What if a child were to overhear your lame attempt at humor and actually eat ice cream, a chip, even God help us, a cookie!

Put down the corn dog. Step away from the vehicle.