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Taxing the fat?

Former MemberFormer 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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  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Lol sounds like a weird concept..links? You sure it isn't a wind up?

    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.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I dont no if it is just a wind up but it sounds so werid
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm not sure I'd support something like this. If I recall correctly, the number of people who are obese due to medical conditions is so low its not even worth mentioning. If there is a fat tax, people on the poor end of society who might not appreciate the effect of fatty foods on health or cannot afford better food, will suffer most.

    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.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Heya

    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!!!!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I thought the idea was to tax the fatty products? Must have gotten it wrong.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It should be sloth rather than fat that is taxed.

    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.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    And that as a student willing to do sport it costs me £3.75 every time I want to swim.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Not sure about taxing but they should ban advertising for fatty foods. They did it for smoking, why not for food. Both are killers.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Fatty food doesn't kill you, don't be stupid.

    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.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    cavegirl wrote:
    'I never asked to be like this...'
    ... but he only has himself to blame for being the way he is.
    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.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    turlough wrote:
    Not sure about taxing but they should ban advertising for fatty foods. They did it for smoking, why not for food. Both are killers.

    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:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I just watched it on More Four like minutes ago! When I first heard about the 'fat tax' I was outraged but the guy made a point! I was impressed that he bought over a weeks worth of healthy food for less than £20! I usually blamed my weight on the fact that I am a extremely fussy eater, I can't eat a lot of food as I dislike the taste of it all. But I love salads so I have NO excuse to be eating healthy! The list of excuses that were made on the show sounded so pitiful.
    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.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    yeah. but the problem with programmes like that, (aside from trying to educate people) is that they can cause problems re: segregating people in society and marginalizing them. it can dehumanize some people into just being 'a fat person.' - if its okay for the goverment to see people like that and to have something against a catagory of people (fat people) then its okay for anybody to have the same prejudice. i mean, i do honestly believe that people only have themselves to blame for the way they are and people do need educating but its a very fine line between that and making it okay to discriminate; and charging extra taxes to people who are classed as 'fat' is discrimination. and morally unjust in a society which is already obsessed with food. the nhs already treat thousands of people with eating disorders from anorexia to the morbidly obese, if the goverment go ahead and charge fat people more taxes, its going to put more fear into an already obsessed nation wrt food and weight and would most likely therfore create more eating disorders in people which the nhs would then have to treat... meaning that the problem isn't solved at all.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i dont think taxing fat people for the NHS is the correct approach to the problem. i think this will only cause more anxiety to the FAAAAAAAAAAAT people and drive them to eat more.

    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.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Iron Nic wrote:
    FAAAAAAAAAAAT
    FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT.
    :eek2:

    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
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Isn't a certain amount of fat essential to a healthy lifestyle? Plus the measuring isn't exactly perfect. It's amazing the number of bodybuilders that go to the doctors and are told they're overweight, because the doctor only looks at the average weight for their height, seemingly refusing to take into account the fact that they have less fat than a rice cake.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
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  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    sophia wrote:
    obesity is a problem which affects the economically underprivileged more than other social groups


    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.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    you could just drink water out the tap, us brits are mad, tap water is just as good if not better yet we pay 80p for a bottle of something we could have for free.

    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.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
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  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    sophia wrote:
    So have I. But that doesn't change the fact that obesity is more common amongst poorer people.

    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).
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
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  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    PussyKatty wrote:
    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).
    Yeah but if both parents are working 45 hours a week to make ends meet, they're not going to have time to prepare fresh food for every meal.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
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  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yeah but if both parents are working 45 hours a week to make ends meet, they're not going to have time to prepare fresh food for every meal.

    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.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    PussyKatty wrote:
    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.
    Well I was think of America more than Britain here. Have you ever watched the episode of 30 days where Morgan Spurlock and his girlfriend have to survive on the American minimum wage?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    its all about the money! i agree that most obesety affect mostly lower income people. (except where im from cos lower income people means zilcho peso). do you think most though would agree to use tax money to help these people have a healthier diet?
    Isn't a certain amount of fat essential to a healthy lifestyle?
    yes. a healthy diet mean a balanced diet. meaning sometimes eat fatty food then eat non-fatty food.

    does anyone here actually cook their own food? (this doesnt include pasta bake)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Well I was think of America more than Britain here. Have you ever watched the episode of 30 days where Morgan Spurlock and his girlfriend have to survive on the American minimum wage?
    do most americans cook their own meals?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Iron Nic wrote:
    do most americans cook their own meals?
    I wouldn't have a clue. I imagine it's roughly the same as the UK.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I was reading an article yesterday in the paper... Ok, well I just read the headline... but apperantly 60% of the american population is considered overweight and/or obese.

    Healthy is the minoroty. Thats so scary.
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