In the USA, it would seem that lots of writers, commentators, screen writers, and pundits are obsessed with fat or obese people. One commentator on CNN [1] writes about using a tax to control obesity.
In California, we already have a Fat Tax, it's in the form of a tax on fast foods and sugary junk foods. Yet, there are fat people in California, and most of the people who are eating at McDonalds, Wendy's, Jack, and In-N-Out are all thin or acceptably sized.
Forbes ran an article in September of 2009 discussing how a fat tax could be some kind of reformist ideology. The Forbes article mostly is concerned with raising billions of dollars to help pay for some kind of unforseen increase in socialized healthcare. It also claims that by 2015, 40% of Americans will be obese.
Seriously, how can anyone publish this stuff?
There are some level headed people out there who have some good things to say [2] in the Center for Consumer Freedom's Who Wants A Fat Tax article. There, a reference was made to a CSPI article [3] that pretty much sums up a simple position, yet not in so many words: Tax Food.
Oh wait, a general food tax? What states in the US have a general food tax? There is a comprehensive list [4] that has the food tax amount by state, as of January of 2008. That's pretty interesting. Most states do not charge any food sales taxes, and some not any sales tax.
Let's pick on Tennessee. They have a food sales tax 5.5%, and the average BMI according to the Tennessee On The Move survey: [5]
"According to the Tennessee on the Move study, the average Tennessean is overweight and nearly obese, with an average BMI score of 29.2."
Well, if this panacea Fat Tax was doing its job, then you would think that Tennesseeans would be thin and healthy. The average Tennesseean is pretty happy, though. They gave us Jack Daniels Whiskey, Elvis Presley, and FedEx Overnight Delivery.
The highest food tax rate is Mississippi, at 7%. Some data from NIH [6] suggests that in 2003, the mean BMI was 27.7, which is pretty darn high for a state with the highest food tax rate.
I could not find a comprehensive comparison of food tax rate as it relates to BMI, normalized by average salary. The BMI distribution of the typical human being is highly correlated with wage earnings (inversely apparently, according to one study regarding Food Stamp usage), and social setting. Apparently fat people beget more fat people, yet I don't believe it.
In 1998, the NIH changed the definition of "fat" to be a measure of BMI [7]. According to that change, a person with a BMI of 26 or higher is considered overweight, and at 31 they are obese.
I am apparently obese, and a fat tax would do nothing to my consumption habits. A fat tax would definitly put many people out of work, though, including an army of adolescents who sharpen their job skills while flipping burgers and asking "Do you want fries with that?" Kids without jobs leads to kids with idle hands. If you want to keep kids out of trouble, make them work, right?
I say that we need a stupid tax. People with an IQ that is over 125 should pay significantly less taxes than those with an IQ of 98. Those with 145 and above should be tax-free! Smarter people make the world easier and more fun. We also need a criminal tax, so that federal criminals on parole pay double taxes to pay back their incarceration costs and any future cost of policing them with parole agents and bounty hunters.
Let fat people be fat if they want to. If we don't, then what's next? Vulgar language tax? I don't like hearing vulgar language in public, so why not? How about vulgar dress tax? I see lots of poorly clothed teenagers and adults on the street, so maybe they should be taxed too?
Where do we stop with the over-taxing of our people. It's no wonder we have so many poor people. If we keep taxing them, what else do they have to do but eat more snickers and watch the fabricated world of TV, because they certainly can't afford to visit Disney Land when all of their money is being paid back to the government. A government that is itself obese with regulations!
[1] http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/10/05/ruiz.obesity.tax/index.html
[2] http://www.consumerfreedom.com/news_detail.cfm/headline/2336
[3] http://www.consumerfreedom.com/news_detail.cfm/headline/1412
[4] http://www.taxadmin.org/FTA/rate/sales.html
[5] http://www.utmedicalcenter.org/news/Women+and+Heart+Disease/1828.html
[6] http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1636707
[7] http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9806/17/weight.guidelines/
Additional Reading:
[*] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/6169880/Fat-tax-to-hit-McDonalds-in-Essex.html
[*] http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/29/whos-ready-for-a-fat-tax/
In California, we already have a Fat Tax, it's in the form of a tax on fast foods and sugary junk foods. Yet, there are fat people in California, and most of the people who are eating at McDonalds, Wendy's, Jack, and In-N-Out are all thin or acceptably sized.
Forbes ran an article in September of 2009 discussing how a fat tax could be some kind of reformist ideology. The Forbes article mostly is concerned with raising billions of dollars to help pay for some kind of unforseen increase in socialized healthcare. It also claims that by 2015, 40% of Americans will be obese.
Seriously, how can anyone publish this stuff?
There are some level headed people out there who have some good things to say [2] in the Center for Consumer Freedom's Who Wants A Fat Tax article. There, a reference was made to a CSPI article [3] that pretty much sums up a simple position, yet not in so many words: Tax Food.
Oh wait, a general food tax? What states in the US have a general food tax? There is a comprehensive list [4] that has the food tax amount by state, as of January of 2008. That's pretty interesting. Most states do not charge any food sales taxes, and some not any sales tax.
Let's pick on Tennessee. They have a food sales tax 5.5%, and the average BMI according to the Tennessee On The Move survey: [5]
"According to the Tennessee on the Move study, the average Tennessean is overweight and nearly obese, with an average BMI score of 29.2."
Well, if this panacea Fat Tax was doing its job, then you would think that Tennesseeans would be thin and healthy. The average Tennesseean is pretty happy, though. They gave us Jack Daniels Whiskey, Elvis Presley, and FedEx Overnight Delivery.
The highest food tax rate is Mississippi, at 7%. Some data from NIH [6] suggests that in 2003, the mean BMI was 27.7, which is pretty darn high for a state with the highest food tax rate.
I could not find a comprehensive comparison of food tax rate as it relates to BMI, normalized by average salary. The BMI distribution of the typical human being is highly correlated with wage earnings (inversely apparently, according to one study regarding Food Stamp usage), and social setting. Apparently fat people beget more fat people, yet I don't believe it.
In 1998, the NIH changed the definition of "fat" to be a measure of BMI [7]. According to that change, a person with a BMI of 26 or higher is considered overweight, and at 31 they are obese.
I am apparently obese, and a fat tax would do nothing to my consumption habits. A fat tax would definitly put many people out of work, though, including an army of adolescents who sharpen their job skills while flipping burgers and asking "Do you want fries with that?" Kids without jobs leads to kids with idle hands. If you want to keep kids out of trouble, make them work, right?
I say that we need a stupid tax. People with an IQ that is over 125 should pay significantly less taxes than those with an IQ of 98. Those with 145 and above should be tax-free! Smarter people make the world easier and more fun. We also need a criminal tax, so that federal criminals on parole pay double taxes to pay back their incarceration costs and any future cost of policing them with parole agents and bounty hunters.
Let fat people be fat if they want to. If we don't, then what's next? Vulgar language tax? I don't like hearing vulgar language in public, so why not? How about vulgar dress tax? I see lots of poorly clothed teenagers and adults on the street, so maybe they should be taxed too?
Where do we stop with the over-taxing of our people. It's no wonder we have so many poor people. If we keep taxing them, what else do they have to do but eat more snickers and watch the fabricated world of TV, because they certainly can't afford to visit Disney Land when all of their money is being paid back to the government. A government that is itself obese with regulations!
[1] http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/10/05/ruiz.obesity.tax/index.html
[2] http://www.consumerfreedom.com/news_detail.cfm/headline/2336
[3] http://www.consumerfreedom.com/news_detail.cfm/headline/1412
[4] http://www.taxadmin.org/FTA/rate/sales.html
[5] http://www.utmedicalcenter.org/news/Women+and+Heart+Disease/1828.html
[6] http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1636707
[7] http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9806/17/weight.guidelines/
Additional Reading:
[*] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/6169880/Fat-tax-to-hit-McDonalds-in-Essex.html
[*] http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/29/whos-ready-for-a-fat-tax/