Posted on 06/08/2003 2:24:14 PM PDT by SamAdams76
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.
High-fat foods could be subject to the plan, which the Australian Medical Association says may be the way to reduce weight and ultimately save the health system billions.
The AMA will ask the Federal Government to consider the tax as part of an overall strategy to combat obesity. Recent studies have shown 47 per cent of women and 63 per of men are overweight or obese.
Diabetes Australia has also backed discussion of the plan at a federal level amid estimates more than one million Australians are afflicted by diabetes and that by 2010, 70 per cent of the population will be above their healthy weight range.
The British Medical Association has endorsed a similar plan to impose a 17.5 per cent value-added-tax on fatty food, except for takeaway meals which are already taxed. A similar tax has successfully been introduced on unsaturated fat products in Sri Lanka.
AMA vice president Mekesh Haikerwal said the doctors' group would be happy to put the tax idea "on the table" for discussion with the Federal Government.
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.
"The discussion needs to be had," Dr Haikerwal said. "There needs to be a giant wake-up call, obesity is a major drain on our resources, on our health systems and workplaces."
Australian health ministers will meet next month to consider a national strategy to battle obesity levels with new evidence showing that within the next decade four-out-of-10 children will be overweight.
Diabetes Australia spokesman Alan Barclay said the plan was "definitely worth considering for the battle against diabetes". But he warned forcing companies to rethink the fat content of their products could result in foods high in sugar and starch.
There is already evidence some companies are changing the ingredients in snack foods. The recipe for Mars bars has been changed amid health fears over a fatty ingredient.
Hydrogenated vegetable fat has been removed from the popular chocolate bar because of its links with high cholesterol levels and heart disease.
"It needs to be targeted," Mr Barclay said. "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.
Diabetics spent an average of $10,000 a year on their condition, he said, with those with complications spending $20,000.
I thought conservatives were anti-tax.
BAN IT, or SHUT THE HELL UP. No 1/2 tax BS.
That said, this is one of the more blatant examples of social engineering through taxation. These schemes seldom work for several reasons: (1) the government is more addicted to money than Rosie is to Twinkies, and tends to spend it in places other than to address the issue at hand; (2) people modify their behavior to avoid the tax before they modify their behavior to address the problem; (3) attempting to suppress a product in demand by taxing it engenders black markets; (4) taxes, even when they are mistakenly assessed or no longer necessary, are seldom or never lifted; and (5) people like me who aren't fat and don't smoke still get pissed off when some self-righteous jackass on a power trip decides he or she knows better how to live than we do.
We could, of course, vote them out of office...only...notice how seldom this stuff is called for by elected representatives? It's usually self-proclaimed "experts" and high-minded social reformers who have enthusiasm for their chosen obsessions but absolutely no accountability for their results. "Our intentions were sound" is the pathetic bleating of a fool caught out. Usually they just change the subject.
So if your stomach ever gets empty, you starve to death?
Hopefully, you will remember that attitude when they begin taxing something that affects you.
I am getting sick of supporting other peoples problems, I have enough trouble helping my family with their problems let alone people I probably wouldn't like if I knew them.
I am getting sick of supporting other peoples problems, I have enough trouble helping my family with their problems let alone people I probably wouldn't like if I knew them.
You can actually get some and send some more to our troops: Victory Coffee
I'm sure this company means well, but whoever runs it probably didn't read 1984 in high school.
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