The Sugar Tax: A Review
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https://www.theparliamentaryreview....ar-tax-a-review |
I am opposed to this. I agree that sugar is not good for anyone, but what if the next tax is placed on foods that we think are good?
Butter?? |
The comparison to a drug like tobacco is an apt one.
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It's simple and easy to claim that taxing tobacco is the reason for decreased use. That is simply wrong. There is no way to prove this claim, when the scientific facts confirmed in the 1960s also showed clearly that people who used tobacco also developed emphysema, COPD, respiration problems, heart disease, cancer, and ultimately experienced an early death. There may be some who are cost sensitive to taxes, but unless the ultimate penalty of death is involved, it's impossible to claim that taxes curtail addictive behavior. One needs only to review the demand elasticity curve for addicts. It goes against common sense. Count me totally against taxes as a method to curtail behavior.
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I don't agree. Sooner or later lobbyists could influence the government to put a tax on fat because everybody "knows" it will clog your arteries (NOT).
I think education is a better way. Bob |
Education is certainly a better way.
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But education is not happening. On this forum and the similar blogs we LCers lurk, knowledge is spreafing slower than if the doctors were made to learn nutrition, learn the benefits of LC diets AND how to help patients impliment the new diet.
We are the only family we know that tries to eat low sugar, low grains, etc. And its a loosing battle as my teens venture out into the world. My kids pick crap food when its available, despite education. Im ready to throw in the towel re my kids. I cant fight city hall. |
Yes, education is not ideal, but IMHO taxing is worse.
Here in the US, big ag gives the heart association millions of dollars per year in donations plus the results of their own bogus tests that say eating carbs are good for you and fat is bad. Here in the US big ag gets their money into the FDA and they tell us carbs are good and fat is bad. The FDA is the government, and if they were to levy the tax, thanks to Big Ag here the tax would be on fat. Besides LIBERTY is the ability to do things without government control. Remember "Liberty and justice for all". You should have the liberty to poison yourself with sugar if you want to do that. It's one of the freedoms our founding fathers fought for. Of course you try to teach your kids to obey you and not to cheat behind your back - but we elect cheating government candidates so we tell our children cheating is OK. It's complicated. But the fewer government regulations we can have over our personal lives, the better. As long as our Liberty doesn't infringe on the next person's liberty, it shouldn't be regulated by the government. They are not our nannies. Of course this is merely my opinion. Bob |
We all pay when others get sick. That is the insurance model.
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Well stated. Free will and freedom of choice are our inalienable rights. The government stepped in to take control of our eating in 1978 with the Food Pyramid created by George McGovern causing the food manufacturers to follow suit. That went really well . . . . . |
Yes, we all pay for the sins of others in our insurance.
Perhaps if a company decided to sell insurance to people who were not overweight at a discount, that could be a business model. There are some things a government should control, our personal Liberties are not among them. Look what happened with alcohol prohibition. The US had no organized crime in this country until they made drinking booze illegal. Sure eating sugar is dangerous and can cause the public to pay for the sugar-eater's medical bills. But what about sports? Football, soccer, wrestling, boxing and others cause brain damage that shows up as dementia in old age. A person who plays football or soccer in high school has a 25% greater odds of getting Alzheimer's or Parkinson's in old age than someone who doesn't according to the Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine. Should we tax balls? Ban sports? The sound levels at stadiums, aerobics classes, movie theaters, rock concerts, motorcycles, lawn mowers, and even many people's home TV sets are loud enough to cause slow hearing damage, much like sugar/insulin causes slow bodily damage. Should we go around with sound level meters and arrest anyone making noise over 85db? That's worse because unlike sugar, you aren't just harming yourself, but like second-hand smoke, second-hand noise harms others. Hang gliding? Parachute jumping? Rock climbing? Using power tools? Driving on most highways? Motorcycle riding? Swimming in the ocean? I can think of thousands more unsafe things that cause the insurance costs to go up. Who has the right to say one dangerous thing should be illegal or taxed while others should not? I personally don't want to give that control to the government. Think Orwell's "1984" Bob |
I don't like the entire concept of a 'sin tax'. The 'sinful' goods tend to be addictive. It is, IMO, quite unfair to make addicts pay more in taxes. Government becomes dependent on the revenue from these 'sinners', which sort of put law makers in a bind. Is government truly promoting better health by such taxes or are they just capitalizing on addiction? As far as sugar goes, I know that I was an addict. But sugar in all its forms (aka cheap, processed food) also fed my addiction - not just the white stuff. The government would need to officially declare more than half the goods sold in a grocery store as 'unhealthy" and therefore a taxable sin. That isn't going to happen. Singling out only HFCS, table sugar, etc. for extra taxation will generate revenue, but it won't solve the problems. The addicts will just end up paying more than their fair share it taxes.
I am a Liberty loving kind of guy. I have every right to drink, smoke, and eat my way to an early grave if I want to. These days I am better informed as to what is good for me and what is not. I choose not to drink, smoke, or eat crap-for-food. If government should have any roll in this it would be education - providing unbiased, truthful information about our food supply. That's not going to happen either. So I think that it should be left up to us to decide how we eat and how 'healthy' we live out lives. When I was in my late teens the message was that food is food, a calorie is a calorie. If you get fat, then eat less -- especially less fat and cholesterol. Everything in moderation, but avoid butter and lard. Eat margarine, vegetable oil, and Crisco instead. Nothing wrong with processed foods either. The government was sure to require the junk to be enriched with all the vitamins and minerals that we need. How'd that work out? It didn't work out so well for me. Trust government to make the right call when it comes to healthy nutrition? I don't think so. I get the sense that the younger generation is starting to get the message about sugar and carbs in general (my kids included). Information on the internet is still in the Wild, Wild, West stage right now, but there is good information out there. We'll figure it out eventually - even faster if the government stays out of it. |
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I get the same feedback from my kids (young adults) and their friends as well. Yes, we will figure it out and are in the process of doing so. |
As others have stated, today it's sugar, tomorrow it might be butter or red meat or even just meat of any kind, either in the name of health or to save the planet. I really don't trust governments to try and nudge "proper" behaviors, especially as it was government policies that got us here in the first place. Still to this day, governments are advocating for a high carb diet, just not one with as much "added sugar".
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Plus governments are telling us to eat less meat to save the planet.
And nothing could be more wrong, but it seems the more they repeat it, the more the sheep-people believe it.
So tell me how eating less meat is going to save the planet? It's a lie. Once you have the sugar tax, what's next, the beef tax? Wake up people, and help restore liberty and fight this fraudulent propaganda designed to make us more vegetarian. Be careful what you wish for, sugar tax today, beef tax tomorrow. Bob |
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