'fat tax'

[buttonnose82]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15137948

So Denmark has introduced the worlds first fat tax and David Cameron has hinted that this is something he might consider in a effort to tackle the growing obesity problem

what are your thoughts?

 

[Nibblenic]

I would much rather see a tax on processed foods, foods high in salt.

I think it would be a good idea if it was an 'unhealthy food tax' but meat/oils are necessary in your diet.

I think we should be encouraging people to cook from scratch and not buy things where you dont really know what you are eating.

 

[Lightworker]

I think that is potentially a good step, but it all needs to approached from a holistic point of view, with education etc..although I am sure they have thought of that lol

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

I agree with one of the comments below the article, the real enemy is sugar! But I agree with idea in principle.

 

[Ashley8806]

Edit: Lol after I actually read the article I realized it wasn't what I thought it was. I thought it was one of the proposals previously mentioned about taxing overweight/obese people and charging them fines. My bad!

 

[tallybee]

I would much rather see a tax on processed foods, foods high in salt.

I think it would be a good idea if it was an 'unhealthy food tax' but meat/oils are necessary in your diet.

I think we should be encouraging people to cook from scratch and not buy things where you dont really know what you are eating.

I agree with you nic, it sounds too simplistic to be any good tbh.

x

 

[Eternal]

Yeah i dont think its right, nothing wrong with milk, butter etc, essential cooking items and pregnant women, older women, children all should have high diary products.

If a tax needs added then add it to the real problem, crisps, processed food, chocolate, sweets etc, the obestity problem isnt caused by people drinking too much milk, its caused by all the other stuff. Yes cheese etc is fattening, but it would be much better to pick on items which are processed, or quick to make. If you tax basic ingrediants lt will mean even more people who cant cook and if they have to choose between tax on several items to make something or one item like pizza, or chips then they will go for the far more unhealthy option.

To be honest the whole idea of adding ANOTHER tax is beyond me, are be not struugling enough already? but if it does happen then i could reather certain ingerdiants not be included, like cheese, butter, milk.

Infact it would affect me much as we used completley skimmed milk and occasionally semi skimmed, i dont use butter unless im cooking but we do have cheese. but still, i think pre-made foods should be targeted not ingrediants.

 

[Blah11]

great idea if they bring fruit and veg and lean meat/fish prices down. its much cheaper to live on chocolate, crisps, biscuits and frozen dippers and chips than it is to eat healthily.

eta - i too agree it should be more a 'junk' food tax, not so much milk and cheese as if cheese isn't expensive enough! £4 for 400g

 

[Eternal]

great idea if they bring fruit and veg and lean meat/fish prices down. its much cheaper to live on chocolate, crisps, biscuits and frozen dippers and chips than it is to eat healthily.

eta - i too agree it should be more a 'junk' food tax, not so much milk and cheese as if cheese isn't expensive enough! £4 for 400g

i know! the majoirty of really obsese people didnt get like that for eating too much cheese or drinking too much milk, its that choccies that will do it! lol!

 

[EllaAndLyla]

I don't agree so much with the 'fat' tax. It seems like another way for the government to make money. However a junk food or unheatlhy food tax would be more beneficial. Generally though I think that taxes shouldn't be aloud anyway but I have my own opinions on that and could go on forever!!! lol xx

 

[robinator]

I think it's a bit ridiculous, although if they didn't tax fat, they'd find something else to tax (but this is beside the point). If it's meant to steer people from fatty foods, then maybe they should make the tax based on percentage of fat in the product as opposed to just having "high" saturated fat. Like if more than 30% of the calories are fat calories, or something like that.

While I like the idea of a junk food tax, I think there is a good percentage of people (here in the States, anyway), that mostly eats junk and fast foods because they can't afford healthier fare. So, would a tax like this screw them more?

I do agree with the person who said if they are going to do this, they should lower the cost of healthy food! Hell, they should do that anyway: fruits/veggies/etc are not processed, so where is all the overhead that we're paying for simply to have something plucked from a vine and shipped to a store?

 

[Eve]

As a fat person, and someone with Danish roots *grandfather and his family immigrated to Canada in the 30s* I am pretty glad I do live in Canada LOL

Seriously though, I think the idea behind it is a good one, but they need to look into it a lot further and make numerous changes. Milk, cheese, meats, and certain oils are essential to a healthy diet (okay not so much the meats, but proteins) and those shouldn't be classed as junk or bad food and yes, prices should be brought down for the healthier choices!

 

[Laura2919]

Its ridiculous, dont those items have VAT on them anyway?
The prices of occasion cakes, and sweet would go up because of this and could potentially put people out of business.

 

[Natsku]

Hate the idea. Hate this 'war on fat'. Fat is necessary in our diets and very good for us if used correctly. Like others have already said, its processed foods that are the problem - if people would cook from scratch they would be much much healthier.
I use a lot of fat of saturated fat in my cooking but I use a healthy kind (coconut fat) but its already bloody expensive, I wouldn't be able to afford it if it got taxed more and I'd then have to use cheapo vegetable oil and risk the toxins that are released by high temperatures.
Of course busy lifestyles because people work too long hours etc mean people don't have time to cook from scratch which is a shame. I'm very lucky that I have the time to cook my meals but for everyone to benefit it would require a complete restructuring of our job system (shorter work weeks, more people employed instead - very difficult to switch to that kind of system)

 

[Eternal]

Cooking "proper" home made meals should be encouarged. So many people dont have a clue how to cook at all these days, people's ideas of cooking is sometimes nuke it, or stick it in the oven.

The fact is cooking properly can be very cheap if you want it to be, im usless at budgeting for food, and do try to buy organic and local so i have no idea hwo to budget, but i know plenty of people who do.

Sausages, mince ect you can get very cheap, and it can be really pricey to buy all the spcies and things you need but once you have all of them its really cheap and replacing the odd spice is cheap enough (if you buy larger packs from markets etc).

If a VAT on anything was added i pray its on processed stuff, and that the money generatated was spent on giving people the education and raw ingredigants they need. How good would it be for the govenment to supply is with a basic cooking pack and instructions, or at least to those who need it most.

I tend to use olive oil for most of my cooking, but even that is expensive, things that that should be more affordable compared to other oils.

 

[buttonnose82]

I agree that rather than 'fat' it should be types of foods not food groups, processed foods that as a whole are bad in alot of areas not just fat, they do need too also re-educate people on food and cooking from scratch, I have always cooed from scratch because my mum did so I learnt from her and also prefer (and need) too know what goes into little mans food due too his food issues

I do agree that some healthier foods do need too be made cheaper but too be honest I don't agree with the whole 'it's cheaper too eat junk food' because for the same price as you get a multi pack of crisps you can get a bag of apples or banana's ect, it is cheaper in the long run too make a batch of lasagna's too freeze than it is too buy convenience ready made ones.

 

[Rhi_Rhi1]

how silly! some of those ingredients are used to good proper meals! people get Fat from eating crisps, sweets, and bloody chocolate!


before i read the article i also thought they were going to tax overweight people for being fat ! x

 

[Eternal]

how silly! some of those ingredients are used to good proper meals! people get Fat from eating crisps, sweets, and bloody chocolate!


before i read the article i also thought they were going to tax overweight people for being fat ! x

So did i lol!

 

[buttonnose82]

how silly! some of those ingredients are used to good proper meals! people get Fat from eating crisps, sweets, and bloody chocolate!


before i read the article i also thought they were going to tax overweight people for being fat ! x

So did i lol!

'government introduces weekly weight checks' lol I can see it now

 

[princess_bump]

well i can see what they are trying, but i too think they seem to be targeting the wrong groups of foods tbh. also, something about it screams 'nanny state' too me.

i'm not sure how tax works over their but here we seem taxed on everything we could possibly do, and it just seems to squeeze out the hard working people