tax on the fat

hawai_74

mac über alles
Joined
Aug 5, 2003
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:crazyeye: In Switzerland, a new tax's proposition is discussed in the federal parliament. This proposition is to impose a tax on the fat !!! They argue that the common swiss is too fat, so why not to tax fat food

Sorry for those who don't understand french, the link is in french :(

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Fat isn't the only thing that makes you fat...

I don't think it's a good idea, it'll probably have the same effect as the huge taxes on oil here. I.e. people don't drive less, they just pay the immense prices.
 
Originally posted by funxus
Fat isn't the only thing that makes you fat...

I don't think it's a good idea, it'll probably have the same effect as the huge taxes on oil here. I.e. people don't drive less, they just pay the immense prices.

While people do have to drive, does it not promote the sale of more effecient cars?
 
Hopefully, this will work just as well as cigarette taxes do in curbing smoking.

I don't know about Switzerland, but here, poor people are by far the biggest market for fast food. Why tax it?
 
Why don't they tax the levels of bad stuff in cigarettes to promote (investment in) healthier alternatives? The addicted don't care how much they spend so long as they get their drug. I don't mean to make it easier to start smoking though.
 
So they don't eat as much fat, so they don't get as fat, so the health service doesn't have to pay so much for the medical problems it brings.
 
Is there anything in a cigarette that isn't bad?
 
I don't think that this tax will have any chance, and rightly so. If parliament doesn't shoot it down, the public will :D

I don't need the government to tell me what to eat. Fat food isn't unhealthy per se. It's the doseage that does it. Everything is unhealthy if you take too much of it. What about TV, Computergames, work, books (reading too much can harm your eyes), where will it stop?
 
Originally posted by stormbind
While people do have to drive, does it not promote the sale of more effecient cars?
Not sure, but I remember reading that fuel efficiency in new cars have gone down, not up. SUVs are probably part of the explanation...

Still, this means that the ones contaminating the environment pay more taxes, which are then used to solve environmental issues. Which is good.
 
I think we should have a tax on stupidity. Each year every adults takes a huge standardized test and pays $1000 for every missed answer. I bet after a year of that, taxpayers will be more willing to fund schools.
 
Originally posted by Lefty Scaevola
I think we should have a tax on stupidity. Each year every adults takes a huge standardized test and pays $1000 for every missed answer. I bet after a year of that, taxpayers will be more willing to fund schools.
:lol: Good idea, don't think it would get used though.
 
Originally posted by Laughing Gull


they sometimes help when you're constipated.

So does a half a tub of Crisco...and no tar to worry about! :D
 
In many parts of the country (especially in this metropolis), the air quality is often considered dangerous.

Would an air tax be justified using this logic?
 
. 42% des hommes et 28% des femmes souffrent d’obésité ou de surpoids. Les problèmes de surpoids sont la cause majeure de mortalité en Suisse.

42% of the men and 28% of women are obese and It's the main dicease cause . Something had to be done. Maybe not such radical measures but..
 
Originally posted by Double Barrel
In many parts of the country (especially in this metropolis), the air quality is often considered dangerous.

Would an air tax be justified using this logic?
Maybe if we start having to pay for air. I hope I'm not around when that happens. And I'd better not be around when the air taxes come.
 
Originally posted by Double Barrel
In many parts of the country (especially in this metropolis), the air quality is often considered dangerous.

Would an air tax be justified using this logic?
I don't think this analogy is quite logical though.

We need all the air around us to survive and if it gets polluted we clean it up and maybe the extant environmental air pollution laws that have power to fine the polluters may be seen as a sort of tax.

Fat is only required in moderate quantities for survival and the tax was meant to discourage an over-consumption of this food-constituent at health-damaging quantities.
 
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