Donut section wrote:Targeting products is a bad way to combat obesity. The problem is people.
Just have increased tax rates for obese people.
Have tax breaks for physically fit people.
Require all people in any kind of welfare attend self maintenance classes to learn how to cook/exercise and generally look after themselves.
Basically a fat tax.
I could see that idea going down faster than a lead balloon.
Zottistan wrote:Taxing unhealthy substances is probably the easiest, fairest way to get people to pay extra towards healthcare for problems they, themselves caused.
The punitive element should be taken out of it, of course. If you want to recreationally poison yourself, more power to you, that's pretty much a central aspect of human culture at this stage. But it's only fair you chip in a bit extra for the healthcare bill.
I think a more elegant solution is to offer a money-back scheme for people who buy healthy food and drink rather than punitive measures on junk food and drink.