Well, only if you live in the UK.
Our friends across the pond at Oxford University claim that charging VAT (Value Added Tax, sort of like a sales tax) of 17.5% on foods deemed to be unhealthy would reduce the number of heart attacks and strokes. The theory is that increased costs will slash consumer demand.
Hmm. Have they ever heard of cigarettes? In the US, we keep raising the costs of those for largely the same reason and it has not had the desired impact. In fact, according to the ACS, although 70% of smokers want to quit and 35% attempt to quit each year, fewer than 5% succeed. That’s tax or no tax.
Well, actually they have. Like the US, the UK also imposes “sin taxes” on alcohol and cigarettes. I have no information as to whether the tax in the UK has affected the number of smokers and drinkers.
Remarkably, there is a similar tax in place in the UK for certain kinds of foods. While most food is exempt from taxation, there is a tax on certain products such as potato crisps (we call ’em chips), ice cream, candy and chocolate biscuits (cookies to my colleagues in the US).
The plan, which the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health estimates would save more than 3,000 lives per year, would be to tax foods that are high in fat such as pastries, cakes, cheese, and butter. Such a tax would raise average weekly household bills by 4.6 %. It’s not likely to be implemented any time soon as outgoing PM Tony Blair and the British Heart Association have each expressed opposition to the tax.
The tax is nothing new – though wildly unpopular. In the US, such ideas have been tossed around for years to try and control both the increase in childhood obesity and the sky-rocketing cost of our health care. In 2005, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick had proposed a 2% fast food tax. And the idea of the “fat tax” really originated in the US with Yale Professor Kelly Brownell proposed a “sin tax” on fatty foods in the 1980s.
Of course, one of the obstacles to such a tax (in addition to the glaring “big brother” nature of the tax) is determining exactly which foods to tax. Even the apparently simplistic fast food tax is troubling. It’s becoming more and more difficult to figure out what “fast food” is. Does the Chicken Salad at McDonald’s count as fast food because McDonald’s makes it? Does my favorite Saga Bleu burger from the Ugly Moose count since it’s a burger?
In the UK, they’ve targeted certain foods high in fat as taxable. The problem with this, in my opinion, is that it might encourage companies to replace natural foods high in fat – like butter and cheese – with synthetic additives that might be even worse for your health (remember the Olean fiasco?). I happen to enjoy a good goat cheese – I wouldn’t be as wild about goat-like cheese.
What do you think? Should we tax foods high in fat? Do the potential benefits outweigh the consequences?
Sure, why not. Tax the smokers (not me) and the junk food eaters (me). Perhaps it will help us to resist the “forbidden fruits.”
Just junk food? What about the Brits taxing high fat natural food like butter and cheese?
Hmmm, being a Brit myself, I actually don’t mind the idea of taxing high fat foods along with cigarettes and alcohol.
There’s been quite a dramatic surge of low fat alternatives and junk food manufacturers switching to lower fat products in the last 2 years anyway. Anything which makes us live longer and get fitter is surely a good thing?!
Taxes on smoking go up every year and it has had an effect, and cut down the amount of smokers in the UK. Also, England has just gone smoke free, with no smoking allowed in any workplace.
Taxation by the government to change social norms have been a tool for change for decades. Isn’t it a shame that people depend on the government to make them do what they should do anyway? But it is government involving itelf in the daily activities of the people. Talk about dependancy!! No wonder our tax laws are cumbersome as well as obsolete.
If “Ugly Moose” is a restaurant/cafe, then the Saga Bleu burger would already carry VAT at 17.5% in the UK (if Ugly Moose actually existed over here!) – meals in restaurants, and hot takeaway food are always Standard Rated.
You Can Tax MY Tortilla When You Pry It From My Chile Covered Fingers.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Mexicans-Against-the-Tortilla-Tax/301928385838?ref=nf