Should there be a junk food tax? The premise is simple enough: if you eat it, you have to pay more for it and, hopefully, that money gets funneled into public health care programs or it may make people stop the habit. It has worked somewhat well for smoking and the cigarette taxes around the country. Could it make people cut down or give up on crappy junk food that eventually makes them obese, diabetic, full of heart disease, and possibly cancer-ridden?
If we were to tax crappy food, what would justify a tax? All fast food? I would love to see state representatives arguing about what qualifies as fast food while they are shoveling down a take-out Big Mac at their desk on the chamber floor. Especially here in Iowa, I can foresee the legislators that represent more rural counties go against it because junk food is loaded with highly subsidized high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and soybean oil both of which are terrible on the body.
Would we tax junk food grocieries? Things that are loaded with excessive sugar, corn syrup, soy fillers, MSG, and preservatives that break down a person's immune system make up most of what is in a grocery store. Candy would be affected. So would just about anything in a box or a package. Some of the organics and health foods would be OK depending on what they put in the food. Organic HFCS is still HFCS and it has ill effects on the body. Ditto for organic sugar and soy oil.
Would this overhaul the whole food system? Possibly. Would the big food conglomerates such as Con-Agra and Monsanto allow that? Hell no! They profit from the way food is now and forcing change through taxation would deeply effect their bottom line.
So what can you do? Just eat right as a personal choice. Don't buy junk and eat decent, wholesome foods. Get educated and encourage your friends and family to do the same.
5 comments:
When you see the expose'-type documentaries that have come out the last few years on the food industry, you will see how these issues are going to be a hot item in the near future. People are starting to realize what goes into their food and how much the big food conglomerates are willing to fight to hold onto profits.
A tax would never go through because the food lobbies in both state and federal legislatures have the lawmakers in their pockets. It would affect farmers and that is an issue that can be very explosive.
Hanna
New London, Conn.
Are they going to tax the schools for the junk food they feed them?
A tax is probably the wrong answer. Somehow making a financial incentive to eat better may be a better solution. It boils down to what you choose to eat and do. If everyone decided to eat better, then the big food companies would start to make better food. Some new fast food companies are starting to go to all natural, healthy ingredients. I think that is really important. Influence them with your wallet. Money is power.
People need to be informed first. Then they need to have the discipline and the guts to act on what they have learned. Not eating junk is a constant daily battle but it can be done.
I've heard that the government and the food companies work together to make us all fat and sick. Then their cronies at the drug companies come in and sell us the magic pill that doesn't work. If the government taxes us on top of this, that is screwing us every which way possible!
Sheryl
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