A BBC Panorama programme and The Daily Mail this week covered the question as to whether we in the UK should pay a fat tax.
The Panorama programme suggested that foods that have been shown to increase the likelihood of obesity could be taxed to encourage people to buy healthier options. For instance, a tax could be levied on fast foods, ready meals, processed foods, fizzy drinks etc.
People on the programme interviewed who were on low incomes suggested that they couldn’t afford to buy healthy food. However, I don’t think they realised that what they are eating are non-foods. What this means is that they are eating foods that take more nutrients out of the body than they put in. What they are buying isn’t really food! Long-term eating of non-foods will lead to a chronic disease and obesity is a chronic disease. What if the ‘fat tax’ was put aside to subsidise fresh food prices (especially organic)? Not only could the fat tax encourage people to eat healthier, but could save millions if not billions of pounds of tax payers money on needless and totally preventable NHS costs.
I have written a series of blogs on this subject before and I see a lot of merit in this system. As I have previously suggested, health can only come from within, a Doctor can’t give it to you in a tablet or with a scalpel. The only way I see the UK improving it’s health and losing it’s tag as the fattest nation in Europe, is through proper education and personal responsibility which I believe has to have a financial incentive for it to be successful.
So, are you for or against the fat tax?
