The most common solution to problems in the American government is to implement taxes. This happened with the tobacco industry and now it is being proposed again, but this time it’s directed towards the food industry. Mark Bittman’s article “Bad Food? Tax it, and Subsidize Vegetables” featured in The New York Times argues that the average American diet is life threatening. The health risks that come with eating over processed food with too much sugar are costly and dangerous.…
No one ever expected for sugar sweetened beverages to become a threat to human health. The article Ounces of Prevention-The Public Policy Case for Taxes on Sugared Beverages is a depiction of the growing worries of experts in public health; Kelly D. Brownell and Thomas R. Frieden manifest the importance of increasing the taxes on sugar sweetened beverages in order to generate a decrease in consumption, promoting people to make a wise selection to reduce the rate of obesity. The ascending consumption of sugar sweetened beverages is presented as the “largest driver of the obesity epidemic”. Imposing an excise tax may be a solution to this preventable problem. Demanding taxation on sugar sweetened beverages will produce a revenue.…
According to Professor Brownell of Duke University, the income of a soft drink tax has many uses, but the greatest use involves the ability of healthy alternatives to become better purchasable (“Soda Tax could Shake Up the Industry”, par. 16). A soft drink tax would provide revenue to offer healthier food options for daily consumption. Additionally, health expenses associated with patients who become overweight or obese could diminish through the revenue of an excise. In fact, “ Estimates place the cost related to treating the overweight and obese at $147 billion, with half of those costs being paid publicly” (“Excise Tax for Soda”, par. 2).…
In the article, Clarke, Mytton and Rayner provide examples of other nations that have implemented unhealthy foods taxes such as Denmark that has introduced a “fat tax,” Hungary with its “junk food tax,” France with their tax on sweetened drinks, and the list continues. They state in his article that, “Increasing the price of unhealthy foods, by taxation, should reduce consumption of the taxed foods” (pg. 1). This tax implantation would get rid of the comfort and convenience of junk food and would allow individuals to instead more likely pick the ingredients and meals that would on the long run have more benefits for one’s…
Miguel's Response "Taxing with a purpose can make all the difference in how society thinks about whether giving tax makes for good policy" (10). According to, "What the Soda Tax Means for Consumers," by Brian Gale, he argues that taxing without knowing why, can make society think it is a wrong idea, but while knowing why taxing is beneficial, would make society think it is a good thing. While one may find it hard to argue that taxing sugary drinks, especially soda, should be implemented, because soda taxes can affect sales; in reality, sugary beverages must not be taxed due to the fact that it will not reduce the number of purchases and will not protect people from harmful diseases like obesity and type 2 diabetes. Taxes will not be beneficial to soda and other sugary beverages. To begin with,…
Not Necessary Why should the government be able to regulate diets in America? They shouldn't. It will just result in more problems, and more money. The government should have their focus somewhere else in considering that America is a free country, there's more important problems going on, and because they take part in the cause for obesity. America is a free country, and regulating what people eat doesn't sound like freedom to me whatsoever.…
The American population has a love of soda. They also have an obesity epidemic and a rising rate of obesity related diseases. Many city politicians have attempted to pass a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages in an effort to decrease consumption. However, a soda tax has met with opposition by consumers, some politicians, and the soft drink industry. The tax proposal continues to come up for debate by city officials and public health experts as the nation attempts to decrease empty carbohydrate intake, improve nutrition and reduce diabetes.…
Obesity has started to become a pretty serious problem in america. As I see, the main causes are fast food and processed food. All our foods on the market today are high in fat and sugar. Usually going healthy is a lot more expensive and that 's why people buy junk food. If we were to put a higher tax on junk food it would probably help people reconsider and maybe choose the healthier option.…
Furthermore, Australia spend $4 billion every year on health care associated with obesity in Australia. In addition, the study suggests that junk foods taxes and subsidies on foods such as fruits and vegetables can potentially be combined. They would save $3.4billion on healthcare costs with minimal impact on the budget of the household. The junk food taxes have simulated that if a chocolate bar costs about 10 per cent more, ice-cream, with high levels of sugar and fat, would rise about 65 per cent.…
Taxing soda will raise the price so more people will think twice before buying soda because it’s a bit more expensive now, and start to make healthier choices. Instead of getting a soda at the convenience store individuals will opt for water or healthier juices because they are now less expensive than regular soda. It’s already stated by numerous health organizations that drinking too much soda is bad for human health so this tax is a small step, but it’s in the right direction for better health in…
There is an ongoing battle happening across the country with activists and lawmakers pushing to put a cap on consumption of sugary drinks and one of the biggest lines of attack is imposing a sugary drink tax (also referred to as a soda tax) designed to reduce the consumption of sugary…
Dr Marshall believes that taxing sugar would stop the consumption of too much of it and promote health food (Marshall). Even though some people might say excess sugar consumption is not the only way that reads to obesity the fact is if the people are consuming fewer amounts of sugar and do body excise they cannot become obese because they are watching their…
The resulting income should be earmarked for a program that encourages a sound diet for Americans by making healthy food more affordable and widely available” (Bittman). Although the author has a good point because yes you could tax unhealthy food but in reality it has one fatal flaw. Taxing food because you do not want people to consume it is unconstitutional. People are free to eat whatever they want. Americans are not known for liking high taxation especially when it come to what they eat.…
that 43% of Americans will suffer from this. In order to stop the high rates of Obesity, placing a fat tax on fast foods and junk will help this country. Americans will stop buying and consuming so much of it, which could lead to healthier lifestyle. Just think, the healthier foods will be more affordable and people will have easier access, money wise than buying an expensive greasy burger. This could turn many lives around in the United States, because right now obesity is the number one killer in America.…
Nutrition is possibly the most important way to decrease the chances of obesity. Parents and guardians need to watch what they are feeding their children. If the child eats a giant salad full of cereal with Oreos as a side for every meal, expect the child to be obese in no time. To deter people from buying high in sugar products is by increasing the taxes on these items. Even though people will not agree with that thought, high in sugar products are not a “need” thing.…