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Taxing the fat?
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
I was watching the tv (i think yesterday) and there was a advert for more four and it said something about taxing the fat because the NHS is at breaking point or something, i dont really no how i feel about this. Because surely you cant tax the over weight?
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But yeah, anyway..
if it's true then surely they'll need to distinguish between those who are self-made fat people and those that can't help it (e.g. suffer from medical problems). Because obviously you can't penalise people for being ill..
Sounds like the Govt are getting greedy and wanting to raise extra funds by profiting from the obesity epidemic. Although I suppose it will help pay for medical bills and allow NHS spending to be on other important areas.
If you want to know a little about me:
O I was overweight as a child-teenager, may family basically let me eat what ever I wanted, and I had to finish what ever was on my plate.
O As I got older, I started to read a lot about health and the way our bodies work, and how the fast-food industry is basically a parasite on society.
O I exercise and walk a lot, I eat really healthily.
So I think education is the key. If they want a fat tax, they should tax the fast food places, and make that crap they sell just not worth the price.
Yep, I've seen this advertised in one of the telly magazines - it's a one hour programme presented by Giles 'son of Alan' Coren on more4 on Tuesday night at 9.
Basically he's arguing in favour of obese people being taxed cos apparently they're a drain on NHS funds. He interviews a 47 stone man who allegedly costs the general tax payers of this country £100,000 per year in terms of treatment costs. The last time this man needed to go into hospital he needed 36 people to get him in and out of the ambulance and into treatment. When quizzed by Coren the man says 'I never asked to be like this...'
I agree with ThePendariChampion in essence - tax the fast food joints!!!!
Maybe if those in power did something about the lack of cheap and safe sporting facilities available for all age groups in this country then we would find a solution. Out of town shoppping centres, the selling off of school playing fields, and new housing estates designed around the car and other lazy forms of transport are not helping.
Eating nothing but shite and not doing any exercise kills you.
But then, everything does these days.
Of course, the best thing to do for heart failure is to relieve stress. That obviously means taxing cunts called Giles of everything they own, and then shooting them.
hell... why not charge taxes to the fat man, the chain smoker, the self harmer, the mentally ill, the guy who likes his beer; the oap's, - i mean on some level in probably the majority of cases, each individual is either fully or partially responsible for their own health problems; - all of which drain money from the nhs. i think saying something like charging the fat extra taxes for being the way that they are is just plain discrimination, and it makes a mokery of a society which is supposed to be tolerant towards everyone. hell... why do we offer free health care to refugees and assilum seekers who have never paid taxes in this country, not meaning for that to sound like a bad thing, but there are so many more things which drain money out of the nhs - infections picked up in hospital is probably the biggest; but then the people of this country never hear about that, do they, because the goverment would rather find a scapegoat.
Agreed. This was mentioned on another forum I post on. Some idiot said that we should also tax the people who play sport and therefore may get sport injuries. :yeees:
I will still be outraged if this 'fat tax' goes ahead but the show has made me look more closely at my life style. I checked my BMI and I was shocked by the result. I recently watched SuperSize Me which made me look at food places such as McDonalds and Burger King very differently. I now don't even consider going into them and I prefer to have a healthy and freshly made sub from SubWay!!
I believe the key to losing weight is to watch programmes like there and get educated on the effect our eating choices affect our lives. I was educated about it back in high school but being a stupid teenager I didn't pay much attention and told myself 'I'll never get fat!'. Well I learned the hard way as I hate what I see when I look in the mirror.
the govt should tackle the eating habits, or if not the habits, the food that is available to the people. it is way much cheaper to buy low quality, low nutrition, high fat content food than healthier ones.
if you wanna tax sth, i think fatty products should be taxed, then the tax money should be used to subsidise healthier products and promotion for healthier diet.
FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT.
i didnt see the programme but how were they suggesting to implement the fat tax?shurly the only way to do it would be anual weigh ins or something. Other than the fact that the government knows enough about us already and that i dont particularly want my waist mesurements on a database somewere, the cost of weighing / measuring people on an anual basis would shurly exceed the cost of "fat people" on the nhs.
Also what about fat people with no fixed adress or that arnt registered to vote, would they get turned away if going for treatment? or fat unemployed people?
its just a stupid theory that hasnt been thort through that is practically impossible to implement
Is it? I have met a hell of a lot of very wealthy middle aged men who are obese.
I think the idea is stupid anyway.
But healthy food should be cheaper and more available. In my workplace for example there are vending machines selling fizzy drinks and chocolate bars/crisps, but nowhere to get fruit/mineral water.
I agree with what you are saying tho.
I think that the anning of sweets and pop in vending machines in schools is a good move aswell.
Is there evidence of this?
It shouldn't be that way. Fatty foods are not cheaper than healthy ones. (Fresh fruit and vegetables work out quite expensive but frozen and canned veg are very reasonable).
I doubt a family where two parents both work 45 hours a week would be struggling financially, unless they had 10 children or a very extravagent lifestyle.
To cook a basic meal, making rice, chicken and frozen veg takes only a little bit more effort than sticking a pizza in the oven. There's plenty of choice in supermarkets these days.
does anyone here actually cook their own food? (this doesnt include pasta bake)
Healthy is the minoroty. Thats so scary.