Denmark has introduced what is believed to be the world's first tax on foods containing saturated fat.
The Danish government is applying a surcharge to foods with more than 2.3 per
cent saturated fats, in a bid to combat obesity and heart disease.
The new tax will be levied on food such as butter, milk, cheese, pizza, oils and meat. It means customers will be paying about $3 more per kilogram of saturated fats in a product.
The new tax will be levied on food such as butter, milk, cheese, pizza, oils and meat. It means customers will be paying about $3 more per kilogram of saturated fats in a product.
Prices rose Saturday in many grocery stores as the tax came into force, while
some customers cleared out shelves earlier in the week to stock up on fatty
favourites.
Food industry managers have complained that the tax will be a bureaucratic nightmare.
in 2004, Denmark declared war on trans fats, making it illegal for any food to have more than two per cent of the artery-clogging oils. Austria has a similar law. In July 2010, Denmark imposed a tax on sugary junk food.
About 10 per cent of Danes are considered obese. Britain is the fattest nation in Europe; one third of children and nearly two-thirds of adults are overweight or obese.
What is your first reaction when you read this news item? Are you dismayed that again, government intrudes into our lives with yet another regulation and another tax? Or are you happy that someone is controlling, or at least trying to control those who have no control and the days of us healthy people subsidizing those who chose unhealthy lifestyles is coming to an end? No doubt, this type of taxation will spread to other socialistic countries such as Canada.
I have always been in favour of consumption taxes as it gives the consumer the choice whether or not he pays the tax. Taxing unheatlthy consumer goods is a way of making risk takers pay for the consequences of their risk.
What I do not like is government treating us all like children in a manner that says that they know what is good for us and what is bad for us and they will try to control our behaviour. It is one thing to tell us what we can and cannot eat, but what comes next is much more dangerous. Will they tell us what we can and cannot believe? Will they tell us who we can or cannot associtate with? Will they tell us what we can or cannot read or write? The foot is already in the door on all of these issues.
So, I am bit torn on my initial question. What I would think would be more appropriate is to educate people on healthy lifestyle choices. You might say that has already been tried and yet the rates for obesity are going up. Maybe the answer really lies in the pocket book. I don't know.
Food industry managers have complained that the tax will be a bureaucratic nightmare.
in 2004, Denmark declared war on trans fats, making it illegal for any food to have more than two per cent of the artery-clogging oils. Austria has a similar law. In July 2010, Denmark imposed a tax on sugary junk food.
About 10 per cent of Danes are considered obese. Britain is the fattest nation in Europe; one third of children and nearly two-thirds of adults are overweight or obese.
What is your first reaction when you read this news item? Are you dismayed that again, government intrudes into our lives with yet another regulation and another tax? Or are you happy that someone is controlling, or at least trying to control those who have no control and the days of us healthy people subsidizing those who chose unhealthy lifestyles is coming to an end? No doubt, this type of taxation will spread to other socialistic countries such as Canada.
I have always been in favour of consumption taxes as it gives the consumer the choice whether or not he pays the tax. Taxing unheatlthy consumer goods is a way of making risk takers pay for the consequences of their risk.
What I do not like is government treating us all like children in a manner that says that they know what is good for us and what is bad for us and they will try to control our behaviour. It is one thing to tell us what we can and cannot eat, but what comes next is much more dangerous. Will they tell us what we can and cannot believe? Will they tell us who we can or cannot associtate with? Will they tell us what we can or cannot read or write? The foot is already in the door on all of these issues.
So, I am bit torn on my initial question. What I would think would be more appropriate is to educate people on healthy lifestyle choices. You might say that has already been tried and yet the rates for obesity are going up. Maybe the answer really lies in the pocket book. I don't know.
2 comments:
How about chargeing those with unhealthy lifestyles that cost the system? Like a service charge?
The boundaries of those lifestyles are too nebulous. At what point is being overweight unhealthy? How much alcohol is too much? Are two cigarettes a day OK but three not?
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