What are the pros cons of fat tax?

Answer 1

a fat tax, a tax that would be attached to high calorie, sugary (low quality) foods. The idea is to dissuade individuals from consuming these foods while paying for the medical treatment of those who are not dissuaded and who suffer from obesity-related conditions.

We have essentially done the same with a sin tax for cigarettes.

Pros:

1. It helps discourage consumers from eating foods that aren't good for them.

2. Health care costs of obesity are skyrocketing, and even healthy, average weight people must share in this burden.

3. The extra money could be used by the government towards research and anti-obesity programs.

Cons:

1. People are responsible for their weight, not just the foods they eat. It's unfair to tax a skinny person for a Big Mac because it could "potentially cause obesity", when that person is not obese and may never be.

2. Virtually any product can make you obese if abused.

3. A tax would punish successful buisnesses for producing products people want.

4. The government already taxes just about everything else in our lives.

5. Additional taxes lead to job cuts in the affected buisnesses and contribute a degradiation of consumer purchasing power.