Tax on Fatty Foods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Tax on Fatty Foods - Essay Example In October 2011, the Prime Minister of England revealed that his government was looking at introducing fat tax to tame the high incidences of obesity (Guardian, 2011). Cameron pointed out that he had fears over high costs and reduced life expectancy of the current generation. In the light of alarming numbers of diabetes in America, Cameron warned the country that it should consider the negative impacts of diabetes menace (Guardian, 2011). Hungary also passed fat tax in July 2011. This new tax in Hungary stipulated that the citizens of Hungary spend 0.05 US dollars on fatty foods. This is a move to cut the expenses of health care in Hungary (Buczynski, 2011). The report by European Public Health Alliance of 2011 (EPHA) revealed that in every two people one of them is overweight. The report also showed that out of four people, one had obesity. Further, the report pointed out that chronic non-communicable disease such as diabetes type 2, cardiovascular disease, and cancers are associabl e with fatty foods. These diseases contribute to about 86% of all deaths in the European Region of the World Health Organization (EPHA, 2011:3). These diseases have attracted the attention of major organizations such World Health Organization and UNICEF. In December 2003, the World Health Organization suggested that nations should consider taxing food high in fat, sugar, and salt. This is to encourage people to make healthier food choices. The WHO report revealed that several countries use fiscal measures to promote availability of and access to certain foods. Other countries use taxes to decrease or increase consumption of foods. Others utilise subsidies and public funds to promote access among poor communities to sporting and recreational activities (White, 2006:6). Food taxation capitalises on the fact that people do not buy the most costly foods. This alludes that price intervention can produce meaningful changes in the patterns of food consumption and a reduction in diet-relate d diseases. In the light of this, England has proposed to introduce tax on fatty foods. This paper will discuss the arguments for and against new tax on fatty foods. The paper first addresses the arguments that support tax on food and later it will tackle the arguments against this proposal. The proposal for taxation on fatty foods is well founded. The goal of these taxes is to influence behaviour of people to meet public health goals of in England. Through this taxation, England seeks to improve the health of its citizens. There is scientific connection that fatty foods contribute to development of non-communicable diseases such as cancer, diabetes 2, obesity, and coronary diseases. The rate of these diseases increases with consumption of fatty foods. WHO reports that overweight and obesity contribute to over 2.5 million deaths each year. The report predicts that this trend will double in the year 2020 (White, 2006:6). The same report indicates that deaths from non-communicable dis eases occur in both developing and developed countries. It is, therefore, prudent for the government of England to propose to introduce taxation on fatty foods. This will prevent a large population from consuming these foods because the prices will be very high. It is evident that the fatty foods are generally cheap as compared to the natural foods. The low of these foods has made a large population in England to afford these foods on daily basis. Over-consumption of these foods results in development of health complication, which is