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Report: 'Fat Tax' Could Curb Nation's Obesity Problem
theindychannel.com ^ | May 17, 2012 | Stacia Matthews

Posted on 05/18/2012 5:33:32 AM PDT by Abathar

INDIANAPOLIS -- Health experts have been trying to combat obesity in America for years and have recently suggested a new way to solve the growing problem.

A new study suggests that imposing a fat tax on unhealthy food and drinks could help slim down expanding waistlines.

According to reports, more than 60 percent of Americans are overweight. Under the tax, a $4 cheeseburger would cost an extra 80 cents, RTV6's Stacia Matthews reported.

Some Hoosiers found the proposed fat tax hard to swallow.

"I don't think we should tax people and the way they run their lives,” one man said.

Others said a fat tax is palatable.

"I'd pay 20 percent. It's worth it,” one woman said. "I would eat a lot more healthy just to save more money.”

Researchers said a fat tax could drop obesity rates by 3.5 percent and prevent 2,700 heart-related deaths a year. The study also urged subsidies for healthier foods and veggies to make them more affordable.

(Excerpt) Read more at theindychannel.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: fattax; obesity
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To: P-Marlowe
And for all you animal lovers out there, fat people provide more nouishment to mountain lions and grizzly bears and are easier to digest.

And as a bonus to the skinny people, they can't run very fast.

61 posted on 05/18/2012 6:32:52 AM PDT by tacticalogic ("Oh, bother!" said Pooh, as he chambered his last round.)
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To: Abathar

This sin-tax tactic has worked so well with cigarettes - right?

We don’t need more Nanny-State government tentacles intruding into our lives, we need less.


62 posted on 05/18/2012 6:33:31 AM PDT by Iron Munro (If you want total security, go to prison. The only thing lacking is freedom - Dwight D. Eisenhower)
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To: Abathar
A new study suggests that imposing a fat tax on unhealthy food and drinks could help slim down expanding waistlines.

So would involuntary detention in concentration camps with controlled diets.

Both options are government overreach.

The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant. - John Stewart Mill

63 posted on 05/18/2012 6:44:24 AM PDT by Washi (Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse, one head-shot at a time.)
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To: WKUHilltopper
You think they’d eliminate the tax once everyone is “thin”?? LOL!

They have been taxing cigarettes for quite some time. It could be argued (although I have my doubts) that the increased taxes has reduced the rate of smoking. However, government has become addicted to that tax money and is now looking for other things to tax (i.e. fat people) to make up for lost "revenue".

If this tax is put into place, and the rate of obesity drops, watch out. The government will have become fatter on the extra taxes and will need to find some other way to feed itself.

64 posted on 05/18/2012 6:52:37 AM PDT by MEGoody (Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.)
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To: Abathar

First they impose the FAT tax.

Then a black market for cheeseburgers and twinkies appears. Legal cargoes of tax-paid fat foods are hijacked by organized crime to supply the market.

A new federal agency with police powers, the Fat Enforcement Agency is chartered by Presidential edict under the expanded powers of the New Patriot Act against the non-existent War on Terror.

High altitude drones, especially outfitted to detect the heat signature of deep fat fryers criss-cross the South and Mid-west where most of the illegal foods are manufactured in home kitchens and outdoor bar-b-q cookers.

Warrantless raids are conducted to root out fat people who have been driven underground. When captured they are marched off to ‘re-education’ farms where they are worked to death producing arugula, tofu and other ‘fancies’ for the elites living on the two coasts and in fortified cities and campuses.

I could go on, but I feel the need for a giant Supreme Burrito from Mamacitas.


65 posted on 05/18/2012 6:54:33 AM PDT by wildbill (You're just jealous because the Voices talk only to me.)
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To: 9YearLurker
How about simply allowing health insurance companies to price their policies according to risk—including weight?

They already do that. What insurance companies should actually do is price the policy to the individual based on their previous year's use of insurance. They certainly have all that information at their disposal.

Why penalize someone who smokes or is fat if they've never had a medical issue because of it?

I work with a health nut who is constantly sick, going to the doctor, having surgeries, etc while the fat smoker is never sick.

If insurance companies can price policies based on what might happen, then why can't we jail people who live in areas that produce at lot of criminals before they can commit that crime?

66 posted on 05/18/2012 7:01:16 AM PDT by MEGoody (Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.)
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To: Abathar

“I’d pay 20 percent. It’s worth it,” one woman said. “I would eat a lot more healthy just to save more money.”

Another idiot that has no idea what Liberty means.


67 posted on 05/18/2012 7:12:16 AM PDT by headstamp 2 (Liberalism: Carrying adolescent values and behavior into adult life.)
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To: Abathar

With the communist ‘RATS, another TAX is always the answer.


68 posted on 05/18/2012 7:17:21 AM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (Dumb, dependent and Democrat is no way to go through life. - Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas)
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To: Abathar

I used to could eat all the burgers I wanted and never get fat from it, wouldn’t it be simpler to just tax people for BEING fat?


69 posted on 05/18/2012 7:26:47 AM PDT by varmintman
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To: Abathar

I’m far more in favor of creating an “oppressive dumbass” tax for those who propose such taxes.

It would do so very much good that society be freed from people who wish to solve “other people’s problems” by oppressing them.

And what better instant karma than to be oppressed yourself when you try to oppress others?


70 posted on 05/18/2012 7:33:46 AM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy
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To: Abathar

This tax would be the same as a tax on firearms. It would tax anyone not the problem people.

Inevitably the end result - obesity is the problem not the food. Taxing fat people would be more honest.


71 posted on 05/18/2012 7:40:07 AM PDT by School of Rational Thought (Fun for women ages 21 through 35)
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To: School of Rational Thought

To add to my post, it would be even more honest to tax those obese who are of ill health, since that is the end objective?

There are healthy fat people, at least for awhile.


72 posted on 05/18/2012 7:42:32 AM PDT by School of Rational Thought (Fun for women ages 21 through 35)
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To: Abathar

They will pry my weekly treat (DQ Blizzard) from my cold, dead hands.


73 posted on 05/18/2012 7:44:22 AM PDT by Marathoner (If the election was Obama vs. Satan I'd have to flip a coin.)
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To: Abathar

Is 80 cents really going to stop you from ordering a cheeseburger?

Hell no. This is all about lining the bloated pockets of government, and absolutely nothing else.


74 posted on 05/18/2012 7:48:23 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Abathar
According to reports, more than 60 percent of Americans are overweight...Researchers said a fat tax could drop obesity rates by 3.5 percent

If you drop a 60 percent rate by 3.5 percent, that lowers the rate to 57.9 percent. (It is possible they meant to indicate 56.5 percent and wrote it poorly, it doesn't really make a big difference.) That is totally laughable in terms of a solution.

Imagine a company with a 60 percent failure rate in their products. You are tasked with solving the problem. You go in to the boss and present your big idea, which will lower the failure rate to 57.9 percent. Oh my God, you are sure to be hailed as a Hero.

More likely, on your next job you'll get to say, "Do you want fries with that?"

75 posted on 05/18/2012 8:01:17 AM PDT by CMAC51
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To: Abathar

Poor people and minorities hardest hit.


76 posted on 05/18/2012 8:01:25 AM PDT by Clock King (Ellisworth Toohey was right: My head's gonna explode.)
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To: Abathar

Will this apply to gov’t fat and pork?


77 posted on 05/18/2012 8:02:04 AM PDT by AT7Saluki (No cejar, no ceder)
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To: MEGoody

I’ve never been asked my weight—or weighed—for health insurance. I’d imagine that has to do with state-by-state regulations.

But it should be up to the insurance companies to use their own risk assessments. If they believe smoking is a greater factor than having made a claim in the previous year, so be it. Also, I’d expect there’d have to be careful with jacking up premiums after the filing of a claim else they’d be seen as ‘one time only’ insurance that would leave the policyholder inclined not to file a claim except for something major. (That’s already the case somewhat with homeowners and auto insurance.)


78 posted on 05/18/2012 8:24:53 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: Abathar

Just the logical next step. First we trained the sheeple with tobacco, now we can go after everyone’s food!


79 posted on 05/18/2012 8:26:10 AM PDT by CSM (Keeper of the Dave Ramsey Ping list. FReepmail me if you want your beeber stuned.)
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To: Sacajaweau

“I have a NATURAL right to eat what I want...without government interference or penalty.”

That right was lost with the wars on (some) drugs and tobacco. Many a supposed conservative celebrates those wars, so it is not surprising that we now see a war on (some) food.


80 posted on 05/18/2012 8:29:52 AM PDT by CSM (Keeper of the Dave Ramsey Ping list. FReepmail me if you want your beeber stuned.)
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