[SamAdams76]

Only a matter of time before this craziness hits the U.S. shores.

I agree that obesity and type 2 diabetes is a big problem but that is not justification for raising taxes.

[mewzilla]

What, your taxes and insurance premiums not high enough? :) 9 billion down the rathole to pay for obesity-related illnesses doesn't bug you? Let'em tax. If you don't eat the stuff, or much of it, what's the problem?

[DannyTN]

How about this. Use the proceeds of the tax to subsidize healthier foods.

Part of the problems is that carbs are cheap. So almost every restaurant has them as part of their meals.

[wideminded]

Another reason that this is stupid is that so-called "low-fat" foods may be one of the major causes for the epidemic of obesity.

[supercat]

I agree that obesity and type 2 diabetes is a big problem but that is not justification for raising taxes.

Especially targetting the taxes on fatty foods--whether high in glycemic carbohydrates or not--and exempting from the tax foods which contain large amounts of glycemic carbohydrate (or in some cases contain practically nothing but).

[KC_for_Freedom]

Taxing foodstuffs is the easy approach, but like the taxing tabaco and alcohol it misses the point. What you want to tax is people's bad behavior. (Real power comes from this approach)

What we should do is have an annual weigh-in, (April 15) and pay a tax on the pounds over and above the level of a hollywood leading man or women.

Of course we can expcet the left to complain, since some people have high metabolisms and will escape without paying the tax.

[visualops]

It's ridiculous to penalize everyone because some people have no sense of proportion or self-control.
If you can't say no to the 'super-size', then you deserve whatever comes with it.
You cannot legislate or tax people into common sense. The current need for tort reform should teach everyone that.
Why don't they just freaking ration all the food? Then the commies can tell us exactly what to eat and how much.

[savedbygrace]

If this gets passed, they're gonna wish they had their guns back.

[Shooter 2.5]

"Hydrogenated vegetable fat has been removed from the popular chocolate bar because of its links with high cholesterol levels and heart disease.

Thank God. This has nothing to do with losing weight. This is about removing a substance in foods that bonds the plaque onto your arteries just so a snack food can taste crispy.

[freekitty]

How very stupid. The American Dream is to be free to do the things, including eating what you want, without interference of the government to tax you to death. That is what will get us first is being taxed to death.

[Sam Cree]

This is just crazy, IMO. I was just in Australia, a year ago, for two weeks, and, from what I saw, Australians are very much less obese, than Americans.

However, I did hear some talk about rising obesity, with much blame being placed on the fact that American style fast food was making an ever larger appearance there.

I also noticed that every food shop, whether convenience store, or restaurant, had a prominent section devoted to pastries, alot nicer looking pastries that the ones found in our convenience stores (though, other than that, our food is superior to Australian, usually).

But I believe there is a large body of research now claiming that sugar and starch are more the culprits in obesity than fats anyway.

[LibKill]

What the pluperfect heck is going on down under? This is one of the stupidest things I have ever heard of.

[per loin]

By raising taxes on fat folks, they can reduce those now collected from smokers.

[redhead]

"A tax on fatty food would help to create a healthier society but "shock tactics" were needed to arrest the spread of obesity, he said."

These guys are barking up the wrong tree. INSULIN is the fat-making and fat-storing hormone. FATS do not stimulate insulin, CARBOHYDRATES do. Natural fats (like butter, cream, steak fat, egg yolks, coconut oil) are essential nutrients, especially for such functions as forming hormones and neurotransmitters, and the proper formation of hair, skin, and nails. UNsaturated fatty acids (margarine, vegetable oils, etc.) on the other hand, can cause blood clotting and "age spots," and are so detrimental to health that they are even used to suppress the immune response after transplant surgery.

This is the kind of silly tail-chasing we get when we let the vegetable oil and sugar manufacturers decide what we should eat, and influence government (which has NO business telling us what we can eat in the first place) to make laws mandating that we eat more of their trashy synthetic foods and less of the historically nutritious and nourishing natural diet our grandparents were raised on.

Cholesterol, for instance is such an essential nutrient for cell integrity that if we don't eat ENOUGH of it in our diet, our body will make it. From SUGAR.

Those triglycerides swimming around in your blood? They probably came from that 1-pound cinnamon roll you washed down with orange juice this morning, and chased with that big cup of Starbuck's double-shot high-test espresso (low fat cream and lots of sugar, of course...), and they are on their way to your fat cells, thanks to the action of the insulin you stimulated.

Go HERE and do a little research into the FACTS. Dr. Enig is a lipid chemist. She KNOWS her fats.

[somemoreequalthanothers]

I don't get this concept of taxing behavior. If promiscuity is a problem, raise the tax on condoms. If atv's are a nuisance, raise the tax on four-wheelers. Where would it end?

[FITZ]

Only a matter of time before this craziness hits the U.S. shores.

Yes ---it's the logical next step because they can't raise cigarette taxes much higher than they are now. Spending can't be cut ---politicians seem totally against that, so new taxes must be created.

[HiTech RedNeck]

If they do it to vegemite, there will be a revolution.

[litany_of_lies]

The sound in the background is that of Rush and a large swath of the rest of talk radio saying "see, I told you so." They called this evolution 7+ years ago.

Here we go again. Just as with tobacco, junk science, deep pockets, and insatiabile government appetities.

Now there's an idea. How about a fat tax tax refund) on government when IT grows too fast?

[Future Useless Eater]

...he warned forcing companies to rethink the fat content of their products could result in foods high in sugar and starch.

..."Not all fats are bad for you."

He said there were about 600,000 registered diabetics in Australia with an estimated one million more undiagnosed or with pre-diabetes symptoms.

The diabetics know better than anyone that eating sugar, starch, or any signicant amount of carbs shoots up blood sugar, while eating protien or fat does not.

Atkins, Protien Power, Zone, Sugar Busters, Jenny Craig, and lots more, all rely on LOW CARB. Politicians would be rediculously stupid to foist a tax on fat.

[Salvation]

**BISCUITS, cakes and processed meals could be loaded with a "fat tax" as part of a shock tactic to combat Australia's spiralling obesity epidemic.**

Ooooooooh! Ice cream, too?

[ladyinred]

Expect this to be here soon. A few years ago a few of us realized that once they were through with tobacco, in the sense that they had totally demonized it, they would start on certain foods. The time has come now. Creeps.