Friday, 9 January 2009

A " health " tax ?

It is said that a camel is a horse designed by a committee !

Such a committee has advised the government that the best way to fight obesity is to slap a heavy tax on unhealthy food.

The only problem with that sort of approach is - it simply doesn't work !

The trouble with unhealthy food is that it tastes good - it is freely available from a huge range of franchised brand businesses - and people enjoy eating it.

Put the price up and people whinge - some temporarily cease buying, but old habits quickly return and within a short time it is back to " business as usual " - with one difference. The government has reaped a new tax bonanza !

One of the casualties of this proposed tax is the Australian icon - Vegemite. The sin sheeted home to Vegemite is a surplus of salt, but there is no mention of the range of benefits - including essential Vitamin B - contained in this yeast extract.

If the Mandarins in Canberra up the price of Vegemite to a level that bars it from school lunch boxes then many Australian kids will miss out on adequate levels of Vitamin B.

That would be a typical case of throwing out the baby with the bath water.

The only way the obesity demon will be tamed is if we employ two methods of persuasion - education and knowledge.

If people genuinely want to create a desirable body change they will usually succeed. Adding to the family tax burden provides no incentive !

No comments:

Post a Comment