Should we slap on a Fat Tax for Obesity just as we have with Tobacco??
Question: Obesity is a killer, causing folks to have diabetes, strokes and heart attacks. Cigarettes also kill, thus we have taxed them to very high prices, thus discouraging folks from smoking. Should we start by having Fat Sections in Restaurants, or perhaps insisting that Fatties gobble their calorie-high foods outside on the curb, 100 feet from the doorway, thus taking them from the sight of slimmer, healthier folks? Should we give obese people the same treatment we have given cigarette smokers, with similar laws for eating fatty foods? Would this cut down on obesity? Would it save lives? Would it relieve the high cost of treating these people for strokes, heart attacks, diabetes and other diseases ? Or is it any of our business what anyone does with his or her life?
Answers: Then we need a 'stupid kids drinking tax' as they kill people and get pregnant with kids that we have to pay for.
And an 'anorexia tax' as they have heart attacks and die and use valuable hospital resources.
And a 'bulimia tax' as they eat lots of high calorie food s and barf it up and the acid erodes their teeth and the puking and laxatives cause heart disease and they use up valuable hospital resources.
And a druggie tax for the potheads who increase their psychosis and use up valuable resources
And a druggie tax for the coke heads who have heart attacks, or OD.
And a meth tax on all the former methheads who now have health problems.
And a smart Alec tax for people like you who use up hospital resources when someone beats them up for calling other human beings fatties.
Unsure if this truly answers your question but it's just my opinion. Since I was a teen I never understood why cigarettes were taxed more. Supposedly because they are a luxury item. Well so is candy and gum. On the other hand I do not think people should be punished for being obese, as their are others that also drain our healthcare system. People who do not do what their docs advise, those who are alcoholics and drug abusers, etc.
That is a silly question. Obese people and skinny people both smoke as well as eat fatty foods. Obesity is not always caused by overeating. Maybe we ought to think more about
what chemicals were put in tobacco and are being put in our foods to cause us to crave them. Maybe we ought to make the food companies become more responsible as we have the tobacco companies for the health problems they are causing. At least, I can sit by an obese person and not have
to inhale their food like I have to inhale the second-hand smoke from a smoker. I've seen slim so-called healthy people die from heart attacks. Aren't you being too judgmental? Sounds like you need help dealing with your anger about obese people. Why don't you find a more productive way to help them?
absolutely!!! we're going to have to do something when everyone who smokes either dies or quits smoking. why not pick on another class of dieing folks.
Only if we adopt a Jerk Kid tax.
if there is a fat tax then I think restaurants, cookie makers and anything else should also be held liable.
I think that you have an excellent idea. After all, it's hardly fair and equitable that we smokers are singled out for 'cruel and unusual' treatment ☺
Doug
First, they should begin taxing judgemental conclusions. They should pass legislation that taxes staring, finger pointing and name calling. I also think that there should be an ignorance tax on people who think that they are better or supreme. But, hey, that's just my narrow minded opinion.
Oh, BTW, slimmer healthier looking folks have dropped dead from heart attacks. They can get diabetes and other diseases. Skinny people can be in poor health and shouldn't be embraced as being healthy.
if that happens, we'll be sure and vote for an idiot tax too, just for you. and no, it isn't any of your buisness what other people do with their lives.
no all things should be taxed equally,( INLCUDING TOBACCO) if not we could do all kinds of crazy things, like taxing motorcycles higher because its dangerous if you wreck, taxing young people more because they usally do more stupid things that result in health problems or injurys, and there's many more things people could think of........ it would make more sense to just be fair to everyone. Maybe we should instead work to change our healthcare system where people pay more for their own care instead of relying on others.
Hmmmmmm.....I think you'd have a hard time determining where to draw the line. With tobacco it's easy.....you either smoke or you don't. But with obesity, what is the measure? And who does the measuring? And how do you police it, and who does the policing? It's not just eating out that you'd have to police......how about the food that's consumed at home? So how do you tax fatty food......by the calorie content, by the fat content, by the carbohydrate content? And what about people who just eat too much of good food and get fat? How do you make them pay? Yes, obesity is a killer, but so is lack of exercise, stress, unresolved anger, overwork....so in fairness, how do we tax those?
Is it any of our business what anyone does with his/her life? Yes, and no. Yes, because no (wo)man is an island.....we are all affected by what others do or don't do. No, because we have freedom of choice in this country. It's a fine line and one we probably can't touch without opening a whole new can of worms.
Yes.
Answers: Then we need a 'stupid kids drinking tax' as they kill people and get pregnant with kids that we have to pay for.
And an 'anorexia tax' as they have heart attacks and die and use valuable hospital resources.
And a 'bulimia tax' as they eat lots of high calorie food s and barf it up and the acid erodes their teeth and the puking and laxatives cause heart disease and they use up valuable hospital resources.
And a druggie tax for the potheads who increase their psychosis and use up valuable resources
And a druggie tax for the coke heads who have heart attacks, or OD.
And a meth tax on all the former methheads who now have health problems.
And a smart Alec tax for people like you who use up hospital resources when someone beats them up for calling other human beings fatties.
Unsure if this truly answers your question but it's just my opinion. Since I was a teen I never understood why cigarettes were taxed more. Supposedly because they are a luxury item. Well so is candy and gum. On the other hand I do not think people should be punished for being obese, as their are others that also drain our healthcare system. People who do not do what their docs advise, those who are alcoholics and drug abusers, etc.
That is a silly question. Obese people and skinny people both smoke as well as eat fatty foods. Obesity is not always caused by overeating. Maybe we ought to think more about
what chemicals were put in tobacco and are being put in our foods to cause us to crave them. Maybe we ought to make the food companies become more responsible as we have the tobacco companies for the health problems they are causing. At least, I can sit by an obese person and not have
to inhale their food like I have to inhale the second-hand smoke from a smoker. I've seen slim so-called healthy people die from heart attacks. Aren't you being too judgmental? Sounds like you need help dealing with your anger about obese people. Why don't you find a more productive way to help them?
absolutely!!! we're going to have to do something when everyone who smokes either dies or quits smoking. why not pick on another class of dieing folks.
Only if we adopt a Jerk Kid tax.
if there is a fat tax then I think restaurants, cookie makers and anything else should also be held liable.
I think that you have an excellent idea. After all, it's hardly fair and equitable that we smokers are singled out for 'cruel and unusual' treatment ☺
Doug
First, they should begin taxing judgemental conclusions. They should pass legislation that taxes staring, finger pointing and name calling. I also think that there should be an ignorance tax on people who think that they are better or supreme. But, hey, that's just my narrow minded opinion.
Oh, BTW, slimmer healthier looking folks have dropped dead from heart attacks. They can get diabetes and other diseases. Skinny people can be in poor health and shouldn't be embraced as being healthy.
if that happens, we'll be sure and vote for an idiot tax too, just for you. and no, it isn't any of your buisness what other people do with their lives.
no all things should be taxed equally,( INLCUDING TOBACCO) if not we could do all kinds of crazy things, like taxing motorcycles higher because its dangerous if you wreck, taxing young people more because they usally do more stupid things that result in health problems or injurys, and there's many more things people could think of........ it would make more sense to just be fair to everyone. Maybe we should instead work to change our healthcare system where people pay more for their own care instead of relying on others.
Hmmmmmm.....I think you'd have a hard time determining where to draw the line. With tobacco it's easy.....you either smoke or you don't. But with obesity, what is the measure? And who does the measuring? And how do you police it, and who does the policing? It's not just eating out that you'd have to police......how about the food that's consumed at home? So how do you tax fatty food......by the calorie content, by the fat content, by the carbohydrate content? And what about people who just eat too much of good food and get fat? How do you make them pay? Yes, obesity is a killer, but so is lack of exercise, stress, unresolved anger, overwork....so in fairness, how do we tax those?
Is it any of our business what anyone does with his/her life? Yes, and no. Yes, because no (wo)man is an island.....we are all affected by what others do or don't do. No, because we have freedom of choice in this country. It's a fine line and one we probably can't touch without opening a whole new can of worms.
Yes.
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