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- - Fat Tax??? (https://thetfp.com/tfp/general-discussion/78738-fat-tax.html)

So lurkette, you come from the "ends" camp. I'm all about the "means" as it seems most people here are. As to your threadjack, I think the subsidizing of oil is incredibly stupid. You have to realise though, that the government action affecting transportation was put in place to allow people to continue their preferred course of action in that area, hence no one (aside from some environmentalists and so forth) complained. The action that would increase the cost of "fatty food" (how they would define parameters for this would be interesting) would be limiting the preferred course of action of many people, and therefore gives more reason to complain.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lurkette

Incidentally, (threadjack coming up here) I don't hear anybody bitching about the government interfering in personal consumption behavior by subsidizing the hell out of agriculture and oil so we can have cheap oranges in December and gas that costs less than milk so we can drive huge cars instead of funding public transportation. If you don't object to government action that affects one set of behaviors (public transportation issues), why do you object to it when it affects another set (public health)?

Well, I'm not bitching (your word) but I am against a lot of government subsidies in general. It didn't come up on this thread until now.

Do you really want polititians to attempt to determine what is healthy or not and tax what they consider unhealthy behavior? What is considered a good diet seems to change every few years. Diet and weight loss books are often on the best sellers list and they often don't agree. I can't even remember what the latest fad is between high carb and low carb. A few years ago weren't we supposed to avoid red meat?

I am wary of what the current polititians might consider unhealthy behavior to tax. I don't think they should make us all pay more for fatty foods when many of us have no problems maintaining our weight. In my opinion I think one of the problems with some folks gaining so much weight is because they diet and loose but their bodies go into fat storing mode and they gain it all back and more. If it isn't McDonalds they will get the extra calories from other foods anyway.

Mostly I am just against the polititians getting too much involved in our personal lives. I fear that it is a slippery slope and they won't just stop with McDonalds.

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Originally Posted by flstf

Do you really want polititians to attempt to determine what is healthy or not and tax what they consider unhealthy behavior?

No, but because I don't think it will achieve the desired end result, not because I object to government involvement per se. Sin taxes generally don't work. I just think it's ironic that many people who are objecting to the government taxing something to decrease its consumption don't seem to have a problem with benefiting from the government's subsidizing something to increase its consumption. /nitpick.

Good points Lurkette.

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Originally Posted by funkeodor

And since so many boomers are overweight from living a lifestyle in which they believed "If what I'm doing only hurts me and no one else then what does it matter!" The economy will be strained by many over weight people in the coming few years. If someone wants to be 5'5'' and 600 pounds and believe that it is their business and and doesn't affect anyone else is first of all completely self centered and two, lacks any thought of foresight. Since gargantuan (you know, I've always liked that word, gargantuan, but it's so rare that I get a chance to use it) people are more likely to get clogged arteries and have several heart attacks. Before so many medical breakthroughs these people generally died at much younger ages for their own stupidity. However in more recent years these people of numerous rolls of fat have become a burden to society due to the fact that often enough the people that are fat are mid to low income people who can not afford health care and the society pays their costs. With the number of people retiring and more and more people depending on social security and medicare since they were far to dimwitted and once again, lacked foresight, to plan their own retirement they let society take the burden for them. This makes the gov't tax people more since there are more people collecting 'benefits' and less people working. Which brings up the real question that I wonder. Since the dollar is relatively weak right now, and taxing people more and more takes the money out of people's hands and more often than not is squandered away which means the gov't needs more money. Ultimately this money is put back into the hands of the enormous fatsos that are the problem to begin with. In turn this seems likely to be a situation in which inflation could become out of hand and (while in turn erasing the national defecit), could create another 'great depression' in which once again we're all in poverty! The best option I see is the elimination of fat people all across this country. every should have to take a BMI test and if they have more than 30% fat, shoot em. Or, better yet, have them fight national games to the death! They could reenact older battles. We could have our president, or perhaps we could call all of our presidents in the future the High Caesar (or High C for short)(He would also have to be a porn star and would always shout "OH YEAH! DRINK SOME OF HIGH C!"), then they decide if they live or not with the traditional thumbs up (good) or thumbs down (die fatso!). The tv ratings would be huge across the world. The people in the middle east would be happy for seeing americans die, and in doing so they would stop their wars since we would be fighting it for them! with this they would watch the battles and be enthralled with the ads in which would support the U.S. economy. The EU would be happy again because they could once again sell their manufactured goods at a lower price than the americans and wouldn't have to compete directly with us. Kim Jong Il would also be happy to see americans die and thus stand down in the nuclear arms race since his destruction of americans is already being replicated. This would put us on a far better track to get our economy on track. Screw going to mars, instead, lets stop the future great depression from happening and instead just concentrate on killing all the fat people. The world would obviously be a better place for it! I once heard that the best way to end a piece is with a quote because it shows humility and that others may know more than yourself. So as the great and wise Homer Simpson, "Oh come on Marge, the only reason we don't move out of this dunghill is because of my court ordered ankle bracelet"

Ha ha. Good one. Now that's funny. :thumbsup:

What about an incentive to be fit? Everyone fit enough to complete a basic fitness test every year (allowing for those who have some medical problems) gets a refund, or a tax break.

ah damn it! I just got High C in my Eye!!!!!

The governor here in Washington State has just introduced sin taxes for beer, wine, and liquor. I'm interested to see how this plays out and whether or not Oregon does the same to try and assuage its budget woes.

Personally, even if the cost of beer goes up thirty cents in tax I'm still going to buy it. So I don't think a sin tax necessarily discourages anyone from quitting the behavior that is damaging, but rather just raises funds for government.

Really, these taxes do little to treat the cause of the problem and they don't really address the symptoms either. No one is saying that this money will be earmarked for obesity treatment or disabled people or alcoholics or whatever. Money for these taxes is going to end up, nine times out of ten, in the state's general fund and go for things like roads, schools, etc--things we all use. Perhaps some of the funds generated by such taxes SHOULD be earmarked to education aimed at encouraging healthy eating habits or providing subsidies for organizations who do so. Perhaps some of the funds SHOULD be used in public schools to overhaul how we encourage children to participate in physical activity and eat nutritiously.

I don't mind taxes, but this is getting ridiculous. If the government could prove to me that they would put these dollars to efficient use and use some of them towards the education of the populace in healthy eating and exercise habits or supporting people in healthy eating and exercise habits, then perhaps I would support them.