Report: 'Fat Tax' Could Curb Nation's Obesity Problem

reply to post by adigregorio


This whole thing really is a slippery slope. Many fat people are that way simply because they're lazy and enjoy eating sugar packed/processed food. We all see the fat person in the grocery store with bags of chips and cases of cokes, which is completely irresponsible. But, they have that right. If you want to eat that way and live that life style, more power to you.

However, my damn health insurance is more expensive because these fatties won't eat a salad instead of pizza, and won't take a few walks around the block every day instead of sitting on their butts watching hours of television. So, everyone has a right to live how they choose to live, UNTIL that costs me more money. Even something a simple as an airplane ticket. Two seats, side by side, same price, yet if the fatty next to you infringes upon your space, then you just happen to be paying more for less space(as they're taking up some of yours), simply because of their chosen lifestyle. They chose not to pay for two seats knowing damn well they don't fit in one. Is that considerate towards others? Is that showing an understanding that others have a right to fly without someone elses love handles resting on their arms while the value of their plane ticket decreases? Does the fatty then think their right to be fat supersedes others rights not to have that fat effect them?

If you smoke, your health insurance costs more. Costs less if you don't. Same should happen for fatties who want to live that lifestyle. They're free to do it, I don't mind. But it should never cost me or any other healthy person committed to a healthy lifestyle more money. Sure everyone can live the lifestyle they want.But being lazy and causing me to pay more because of that laziness is borderline theft.

All that being said, if government wanted to actually fix this problem, they'd need to look no further than health insurance companies and the FDA which allows for all the crap in our food.

Well there are millions of Americans that have a genetic predisposition to be overweight and no matter what the eat or how much they exercise they will never become what the government wants them to be.

They will be screwed for life and the government makes money off them rather pathetic.

Just go down to any USDA Food and. Nutrition Program monthly food handout program and you will find that most of the food is not Nutritious and most is high Glycemic Index foods that cause weight gain.

The government is part of the problem and the idea of taxing fatting food is not to help people lose weight its so the government can take more money from the people for there favorite bridge to nowhere

reply to post by neo96


Starred and flagged.

There really does not need to be any new laws. It is way out of control. When you think that you have seen it all, some damn article with "someone important" saying that a new law or tax should be implemented.

If the government had any fiscal responsibilty I think that the taxes could take care of everything that is needed.

Everything is taxed, well a,most everything

Originally posted by neo96
Report: 'Fat Tax' Could Curb Nation's Obesity Problem

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

www.theindychannel.com...

Rather tired of Government officials trying to play God nay I am effin fed up with it for the pun.

If you can smoke it
If you can drive it
If you can build it
If you can read it
If you and eat it

You will be taxed on it.

Let's give around of applause to those that "claim" they are looking out for you.!!!!

So much for personal responsibility never mind you don't have to think Government will tell you what to think, how to act, and what you can or can't put in your own body.

Blah

That's not fair I eat a lot of fatty foods and drink soda but I am skinny as a rail same for the rest of my family. This sucks.

A few years ago, Utah raised the taxes on cigarettes. They said it'd begood because it would cause people to stop smoking.

It did.

Then Utah stated that they had a budget shortage because they planned on spending the money from cigarettes.

So instead of stopping spending?

They raised taxes over-all.

A cautionary tale.

S&F Neo.

Originally posted by dawnstar
I'm not obesed, matter of fact, I've had doctors get on me about too little weight...
so, well, if they start adopting policies that are there to encourage me to lose weight, can I get an exemption, since I for one need to gain weight, or so my doctors have told me???

just wondering here...
hey, it ain't my fault that most of the americans go to work and sit behind a desk all day.
I burn more calories than I take in.....so, well....taxing the occasional doughnut that I might decide to snack on, or that bag of chips would be kind of counterproductive in my case, and since I am in this position, I am sure there are lots more!!!

how about we try going back to how we ate in the early 70's...ya know, home cooked meals (yummy deserts include_--only made with real sugar), real eggs, real lard, real natural food!!
and maybe bring back the production jobs that people actually burned calories doing!!

something tells me that the lbs would start falling off some people...of course, I've seen a few that I think would probably die if they tried to go a day doing my job....

I sat for almost two years at a desk at home doing my schooling and job searching online, I did walk occassionally. But during that time I really didn't gain a pound well I did but I went from anorexic looking to normal weight, it definately is what people do and what they eat combined. (I eat only once a day and junk food though I love it is maybe every other week once). But I drank soda everyday. Now I been working and I am anorexic looking again (my job is demanding). However, the point is I never got fat and no wheres near obese.

Originally posted by dawnstar
reply to post by adigregorio

 

you forgot one.....

you will eat your daily rations of fake food with joy!!!

the same crap that makes cigarettes so "dangerous" can be found in so many other sources but ignored!!
the crap that they put in our food is just as ignored!!

god, we ate all kinds of goodies when we were kids, and our parents smoked where they liked, and there was far less asthma, far less obesity!!!

it's the crap in the food!

Yes do you know we use SILICONE on the lid machines at the tomato packing plant? It's called food grade silicone, the stuff that if it leaks in your tetas it causes cancer (for those with the implants) SAME CHEMICAL it's on your tomatoes!!!! At least if they come from Ruskin, anyway!

It has nothing to do with obesity is just an excuse to raise taxes. if they were to do this they would have to raise the tax on just about every item in your local supermarket. If they were really concerned about obesity they would crack down on all the crap that is sold and is only marginally food if at all and outlaw it and promote fresh local natural and organic foods. Instead they do just the opposite and grease the skids of their politically connected factory farms and processed food corps etc.

Truthfully, I don't think raising the cost of junk food with higher taxes is going to stop anyone from buying the foods they wish to indulge in. It's just a way fro government to bring in more revenue and run our lives a little more than they already do.
I'm working at a grocery store now, and from what I see, people will buy what they want regardless of the cost. They might stop and think a little or leave out the last minute impulse purchase, but if they really want it, they will buy it. Furthermore, a good part of the junk food buyers are buying with food stamps. I never realized how many people were on them until I started working at the grocery. Young people, old people, men, women. I've seen more food stamps lately than ever. Times are tough, but they are buying what they want to eat without too much concern for cost. (As a side note, you will be happy to know that the food stamp shoppers are much more picky about their purchases than the cash payers. They want every last cent used and every savings they can get. They are the ones that call out an error in pricing.)
Another thing I've also noticed personally, if I eat out a lot, I begin to crave that junk food. I can't even come up with a good, home-cooked meal that satisfies me. If I lay off the fast food, I lose the cravings. I'm pretty sure something is up with that. Even my daughter, who has just graduated, has started eating out a lot with her friends and now I can't make anything that appeals to her. Makes me wonder what is in that stuff that keeps people coming back.
Size isn't really a big indicator of health. Yes, being obese causes health problems, but many healthy looking people are anything but healthy.

reply to post by Komaratzi11


In response to your question it's the MSG that makes eating out addictive. It's an addictive Additive. It is found in all processed foods and in more fast foods than you can shake a stick at.

Sorry, I don't see how this could work.

How about returning manufacturing jobs to the US, instead of working sit down jobs.

Better way to curb fat!

I know, won't happen.

reply to post by neo96


it'll work. Just as well as the tax on cigarettes to curve people wanting to buy smokes.

reply to post by MysticPearl


you do realize that your argument only works if they have an open avenue to get the treatment they need right???

once society deserts them and leaves them in a bed with a broken leg saying tough crackers, well your argument flies out the window!!!

here in america, it flies out the window way too often to be a feasible argument!!!

reply to post by ANNED


ya, they need more money, so they can give out more money in the form of food stamps and food subsidies, so that the poor can have all the crap food they want......

and it's all because they are concerned for their health!!!

Coming from the government who for decades told the population via the "food pyramid" that grains should be the basis and majority of your diet...

Yeah not a very good idea. The article from what I gather doesn't specify whether or not it would apply to foods you buy at a grocery store, but if it did, that would obviously be even worse.

Olive oil, which is high in fat but good for the heart, should be taxed because high fat causes heart problems? Sounds like something that they would do.

A person that eats organic vegan that once a week buys something hearty from a restaurant is probably doing something good for their health, whereas a person eating that same meal everyday...probably not so much.

I do think in some ways the incentives for healthy food makes sense but that's a different thread.

I'm just going to throw this in there. I'm sure it will outrage some people.

It's time to start ending the junk food purchases on SNAP or Food benefits given to welfare recipients.
The only thing that should be allowed are healthy foods. Period.

I watched a woman the other day, riding on her cart in walmart, very obese, with her children walking with her. She had her basket and another basket that a child was pushing filled up with the most horrible things:

Bags of cheetos
Ready made carmel pop corn
Big bags of snickers, butterfingers, and suckers.
Cases of pepsi, mountain dew, sunkist
tv dinners out the wazoo

There was NO fruits, veggies, or anything that looked remotely healthy.

Then she gets right in front of me and unloads all her food (garbage) on the belt, and pays over $200 on an EBT card for this.

I'm sorry but it's time to start taking away the ability to feed children this crap by putting EBT users into mandatory nutrition classes and ending the junk food purchases.

reply to post by dawnstar


If we have a nation of healthy and fit people, then what will the pharmaceutical industries do when they go broke? It just seems to me that they want to keep people sick and fat.

There's a documentary out called sick fat and nearly dead. It's quite a radical docu about a man who is hell bent to change his health, and although I would not take that route, it's interesting to see someone figure out how to get control of their eating and their health.

I work at a mc donalds part time in the morning to make extra money for family, and I tell you we do not eat anything out of a mc donalds. Their food is all chemicals and if people could see what it all looks like before it is cooked, the way it smells.... like chemicals and bleach. It's disgusting.

reply to post by neo96


Wait till they start taxing you for being born, and being alive, and for growing old and then for dying.

Wait till they begin to tax you for going to government funded public schools, and taxing you for your ability to see, or be blind or deaf.

If you think any of this is ridiculous, it is the way it's headed and it will happen eventually because if they can do a carbon tax, and tax farmers for cows farting and a fat tax and taxing the air you breathe, this is just the start. The government is deseperate for money to pay off the 15 trillion debt we owe, so you can expect to see many more ridiculous taxes to come.

reply to post by Komaratzi11


Oh it won't. They could raise tax on donuts and people will keep buying them. My husband works in a grocery store and has told me about how enraged some people get if they walk in too late and find certain donuts they want all sold out. He has told me about how people break down and get furious if the pepsi shipment is not in and there's no pepsi on the shelf. People get nuts over their soda and junk food. It's because their bodies are toxic with chemicals and carbs and it's creating a storm of sickness in their bodies. These are the same people who will spend years saying that it's a free country and they can eat what they want, and end up in the ER years later with a heart block needing emergency bypass. And the medical industry and pharmaceutical industry just sit back and collect year after year.

It is our diets in this country making us sick as dogs. My 97 year old great auntie passed away a week ago. She never ate fast food. Only had soda as a once in a while treat. She cooked all her food at home, ate out of her garden....etc. She died of old age. People do not hardly die of old age now.

She simply went to bed one night and died in her sleep. No heart attack, no heart blocks, and no crazy immune diseases. I aspire to be just like her.