I just saw a portion of the Cramer show on CNBC where the host was extoling the idea of a "fat tax" to help reduce obesity in the US. Wow! I'm all for eating healthy, etc. but if the government is able to start taxing food for being unhealthy or start charging the obese more to be taken care of in the health care system then the government's abusive use of power has no limits. I can see how they will it push it like alcohol and cigarettes....a sin tax on the rack of ribs. What will this do to tailgating?
that will never pass with republicans. how you gonna tax their entire constituency? i do think it would be funny if there was black market mcdonalds though. "say my ninja, you still got those mcribs?" "hell yeah fool, dey goin 3 for 10" "sweet, gimme 6, meet me round back"
i dont think it will ever happen. it cant. its too crazy. but i think lots of things are crazy and they happen, and red supports them. do i have to pay the tax on fatty foods even though i am thin and can eat like a madman because i exercise? should michael phelps pay the tax when he eats the 7 breakfast burritos or whatever that powers him to gold medals? perhaps instead of making fat people pay for food, we could make them pay for their own goddamn medical care.
or you could just pressure the fda to not approve everything that comes their way. or force the food companies to tell the truth about their products. instead of having a sticker on the side of a bag of fish sticks that has a big green check mark next to child nutrition.
Or people could act responsibly and buy fresh fish and prepare it themselves. I know, who are we to ask people to take responsibility for their actions!
that's also an option, but ever been to whole foods? do you know how expensive it is to buy healthy foods as opposed to cheap food that is bad for you? Not everyone can afford healthy food.
i dont see what the big deal is. they already tax booze and tax cigarettes. so whats the big deal? theyll just tax more stuff thats hurts the health of the citizens and the bottom line of the country.
I basically agree with what you're saying here but the problem is exactly that the government is looking at it as a possible revenue source and I think at some point in the future they will be able to sell the idea. Amazing to me....the government is going to be able to decide if you are too fat for the standard health care program (for example) and charge you more if you overweight. Isn't that supposed to be your business? Between you and your family or your doctor? These people are out of control....I remember they floated some idea about charging people an extra tax if they drove over so many miles a year...the carbon footprint was too big was the argument. They dropped it pretty quick though.
