Tax the Fat?

[dangel]

Good job i'm on a diet then - i pay far too much tax as it is

[Grey M@a]

So what about us rugby players, according to doctors we are overweight or obese but perfectly healthy, we get taxed to!

[Steve A]

I mean i have sympathy for people who have medical reason for being over wieght, or even being over weight and working normally, but its the greedy bast**d fat people who actually do nothing but eat, and say they are unfit to work, so we have to pay for them when they have to have surgury because they are going to explode, yes its there human right to choose to be fat, but at the same time we should have a human right to refuse our tax money going to help them ... thats my opinion anyway ..

Their Bed, they can lay in it ...

[Mike Fishcake]

No I don't think taxing fat should come into it just yet. After that they will probably tax breathing too.

What about a treadmill connected via USB2 to PC and 30mins running gets your 2 hours free broadband. Faster you run the faster your download speeds.

Best. Idea. Ever.

COME ON! PEDAL! I NEED THAT TORRENT OF THE NEW SERIES OF 24!

[grizzla]

So what about us rugby players, according to doctors we are overweight or obese but perfectly healthy, we get taxed to!

Yeah but the rugby players i know aint lazy and have jobs so we dont pay for them

[grizzla]

ever considered a career in the NHS?

That was the least expected reply i could have thought of, how random.

[Million]

Being obese is a form of self-abuse just like alcoholism or drug addiction, and it should be treated as such, not just as some kind of quirk of the population. I think the public would pay more attention of they were told that. One in 5 adults is obese, obesity in 2 to 4 year old children almost doubled from 5-9% from 1989 to 1998, and in 6-15 year olds trebled from 5-16% between 1990 and 2001. Replace obese with, say, addicted to food (because really that's what it is) and things appear a bit serious really.
Also, do people who eat loads never think that 'I don't actually need this food, i've already eaten a whole pig, maybe i'll just give the money I would've spent on it to starving Ethiopians'? If not, why not? Or, do they not, as Ricky Gervais proposed, reach a certain weight and think 'ooh, i'm actually pretty damn fat for what is essentially a land based mammal'?!
Increasing tax on unhealthy foods might make a difference, but does it really make a difference on cigarettes and alcohol?

[htid]

Increasing tax on unhealthy foods might make a difference, but does it really make a difference on cigarettes and alcohol?

Thats a good point actually, never considered that. Although taxing fatty foods may be a bit bad because there are people such as me who eat fatty foods (as well as healthy ones of course) but just do excersise so we dont become overweight. I mean if im healthy and not overweight, im not costing the taxpayer any more money so why should i be taxed more myself?

[grizzla]

Increasing tax on unhealthy foods might make a difference, but does it really make a difference on cigarettes and alcohol?

Granted it doesn't appear to make a difference, however the majority of the population can drink without being addicted. An addiction to cigarettes is down to a chemical addiction to nicotine whereas addiction to food is psychological much like an addiction to gambling.

[pp05]

Rather than tax them what about give them reduction on tax or council tax bill if they lose a certain amount in a period of time.

[Whiternoise]

Originally Posted by ajbrun
but a weight tax for people boarding planes would be good.

Yeah, i agree too - after all, you pay extra for oversize/overweight baggage..

Or instead of tax, make people attend compulsory classes/self-help groups to deal with their obesity.

[pp05]

Best. Idea. Ever.

COME ON! PEDAL! I NEED THAT TORRENT OF THE NEW SERIES OF 24!

Lol!

Good ending to current season.

[monkeyville]

I agree fully with the idea that you should be charged more for being fat on a plane. I have been on planes where they are given 2 seats becasue their arses cant fit in 1. Why is it fair that me and the gf have to pay twice as much to get the same place as a guy who takes up the same space. Hell i even had to pay an extra 20 quid or something to bring back a couple of extra kilos in a bag. If i had simply eaten all those tasty gifts i would have been excempt.

Taxing the fat is also a good idea in principle but the implementation would be hard. Where would you get weighed? I know i fluctuate about 4 pounds in a day so when do you have to get weighed? I know for a fact if i was going to be taxed then i'd starve for 4 days before just so i didnt get the extra £150 tax.

At the end of the day we are already taxed extra on things that are detrimental to our health or the planet. I cycle everywhere because i cant afford a petrol. I dont smoke because it costs too much. I drink, but i do it knowing i am payng a premium. As these examples prove most tax is based on the goods being sold but in the case of obesity you cant tax food because healthy or not we all need it. If you cant therefore tax the goods you have to charge the end product, the fatties.

There is a great many complications as many people who may weigh lots and have a high bmi might also be very fit. Rugby players are good example as they are often very well built but i know many skinny guys who couldnt run around for 80 minutes. Off the top of my head i can only think of having some kind of excemption allowance, kind of like a doctors note saying "I'm overweight but still healthy dammit".

Since i think this argument is very open to bias due to your own weight i think i'll let you know i am classified as overweight with a bmi of 27.1 according to this website
http://nhlbisupport.com/bmi/

[Clunk]

why not just slap a huge tax on crap foods like chicken nuggets, turkey twizzlers, chips, in fact anything with a fat content of say 6%, tax it high...also crap drinks that claim to be good for kids (or adults for that matter)...rubbish like sunny d, coca-cola, pepsi, any fizzy soft drink for that matter...and with the money they make from the tax on the crap food and drinks...subsidise the fresh fruit, veg, lean meat etc.

i totally agree about the aeroplane thing, but then again, if we start charging bigger people more, should then dwarves go for half price?, or less if they weigh less than half a "standard" sized human?, some airlines give you a free child place with 2 adults, so why not a free dwarf place?..they are about the same size and weight. what about people that are 7ft plus? they would no doubt weigh as much as the fat bloke

[herulach]

why not just slap a huge tax on crap foods like chicken nuggets, turkey twizzlers, chips, in fact anything with a fat content of say 6%, tax it high...also crap drinks that claim to be good for kids (or adults for that matter)...rubbish like sunny d, coca-cola, pepsi, any fizzy soft drink for that matter...and with the money they make from the tax on the crap food and drinks...subsidise the fresh fruit, veg, lean meat etc.

Because that would mean i had to pay more for my fry ups, and for my post ride cake, and god help the man who tries to get between me and cake after 20 miles on the bike.

[dangel]

Mmmmmm cake...