Junk Food Tax : Canada

[PharaohRamsesII]

Junk Food Tax?

We are thinking of insituting a Junk Food Tax, I think this would be a very good idea seeing the trend of Obesity in North America. This would definatly have positive effects on our people in the long run.
Anyone else agree with me?

[Politics]

At 2/22/06 08:44 PM, PharaohRamsesII wrote: Anyone else agree with me?

This is the same kind of thing they did with smoking. They think they can slap a tax on it, and everybody will stop buying it because it's expensive, and they get extra money out of it. The problem is; people don't tend to let the taxes effect them. They didn't with the cigarette tax, they won't now.

[PharaohRamsesII]

The common Canadian household consumes more junk-food that it does Cigarettes....
And with most junk food prices either very low or very high, I think this will have an effect on us. People will think twice before buying junk food. You already see parents in shopping centers dragging whining little kids who want this candy and that candy, and the parents saying no we don't need that, or can't afford that.
People get addicted to smoking, People don't necessarily get addicted to buying their families junk food.

[MoralLibertarian]

I'm always for more taxes on the poor.

[Elfer]

At 2/22/06 08:48 PM, Captn_ wrote: This is the same kind of thing they did with smoking. They think they can slap a tax on it, and everybody will stop buying it because it's expensive, and they get extra money out of it. The problem is; people don't tend to let the taxes effect them. They didn't with the cigarette tax, they won't now.

No, smoking was a different situation. They started taxing them like madness because they knew that people would continue buying them because they're addicts.

Junk food, on the other hand, might actually produce some slight results if taxed. However, then we get into all sorts of funniness about what legally constitutes junk food, and loopholes and all that jazz going on.

[PharaohRamsesII]

At 2/22/06 09:03 PM, MoralLibertarian wrote: I'm always for more taxes on the poor.

Your such a fucking loser...

[Politics]

At 2/22/06 08:50 PM, PharaohRamsesII wrote: The...

That's more of a presedent issue for the parents though. If they give in to all the childs whims, the kids will grow up expecting things given to them. It's not so much a cost issue, especially since junk food has such a low cost.

[IllustriousPotentate]

At 2/22/06 08:44 PM, PharaohRamsesII wrote: Junk Food Tax?

We are thinking of insituting a Junk Food Tax, I think this would be a very good idea seeing the trend of Obesity in North America. This would definatly have positive effects on our people in the long run.

It's stupid. Put a bunch of vitamins and minerals in something, and it's still fattening as before, just with vitamins and minerals. And there's no need to punish healthy people who only eat junk food in moderation, like it should be, because other people are too stupid to know when to stop.

[Politics]

At 2/22/06 09:13 PM, Elfer wrote: No, smoking was a different situation. They started taxing them like madness because they knew that people would continue buying them because they're addicts.

Junk food, on the other hand, might actually produce some slight results if taxed. However, then we get into all sorts of funniness about what legally constitutes junk food, and loopholes and all that jazz going on.

Though I wouldn't be so gracious as to acknowledge junk food as an addiction, I will acknowledge the temptations to buy snacks. But as you said, it would create all sorts of loop holes and silliness. I don't think a miniscule tax on something already relatively cheap is even worth litigating over. This is just a waste of time, on the government's part.

[fahrenheit]

The junk food would not slow the obesity rate, it would merely slow down the people who buy them as a treat.

To some overwieght people, junk food is like ciggerattes.
Easy to use, quick in case you get a craving, can satisfy certain feelings(especially loneliness), and is very hard to turn down once it becomes a mere arms length away.

The point is I think the sales and profits would go down, but the same people that congress is trying to help would stay roughly the same weight.

[Elfer]

At 2/22/06 09:03 PM, MoralLibertarian wrote: I'm always for more taxes on the poor.

Poor people have to buy real food.

[MoralLibertarian]

At 2/22/06 09:15 PM, PharaohRamsesII wrote:

At 2/22/06 09:03 PM, MoralLibertarian wrote: I'm always for more taxes on the poor.

Your such a fucking loser...

You have a small penis, dontcha?

[Guardian]

At 2/22/06 09:03 PM, MoralLibertarian wrote: I'm always for more taxes on the poor.

Why do you think that poor people need more taxes?

[TheTrueMrJack]

At 2/22/06 09:27 PM, Velocitom wrote: (especially loneliness)

I think you have "eating" and "masturbating" mixed up.

[MoralLibertarian]

At 2/22/06 11:04 PM, guardian wrote:

At 2/22/06 09:03 PM, MoralLibertarian wrote: I'm always for more taxes on the poor.

Why do you think that poor people need more taxes?

I was being sarcastic. For fuck's sake. If I could I would abolish all taxes. You people are dense.

[102387412]

At 2/22/06 11:06 PM, MoralLibertarian wrote: I was being sarcastic. For fuck's sake. If I could I would abolish all taxes. You people are dense.

Will you please just admit to everyone that your a staunch Conservative so that we can just leave it at that.

[Imperator]

At 2/22/06 11:08 PM, Mighty_Genghis wrote:

At 2/22/06 11:06 PM, MoralLibertarian wrote: I was being sarcastic. For fuck's sake. If I could I would abolish all taxes. You people are dense.

Will you please just admit to everyone that your a staunch Conservative so that we can just leave it at that.

Will you please just admit to everyone that your outdated radical Nazi bullshit views on the world are total crap, and have led to one of the worst disasters in modern human history so that we can just leave it at that.

[102387412]

At 2/22/06 11:56 PM, Imperator wrote: Will you please just admit to everyone that your outdated radical Nazi bullshit views on the world are total crap, and have led to one of the worst disasters in modern human history so that we can just leave it at that.

Since when was the Holocaust a disaster? Last I recall it nearly wiped out the entire Jewish presence in Europe with an overall low cost in resources and human effort. Now that's definetly an example of German thoroughness being applied to a good cause.

[darkfiretime1]

Taxes on cigarettes, on alcohol, and things such as junk food are an example of human stupidity in wanting to stick there nose in other peoples lives and make them live the way others live, in a society where you dont even allow people to make decisions, which is in the very nature of human beings. How can you have a right to tax another human being because they want to waste away smoking on cigarettes or become a fat ass from eating too much junk food? By denying people the right of free choice, your simply degrading yourself into the muck of society as a bunch of dimwits that allow the government to run every aspect of your life and deny you the reward and pleasure, or the grief, of making conscious decistions. Yes, there are alot of overweight people. That is there problem. They chose that lifestyle, now mind your own damn business and stop telling people how to live.

[fli]

At 2/22/06 10:49 PM, Elfer wrote:

At 2/22/06 09:03 PM, MoralLibertarian wrote: I'm always for more taxes on the poor.

Poor people have to buy real food.

They ought to buy real food. But often, they don't.

This is because it's pretty dang cheap to buy from the dollar menu at McDonalds and the other fast food places than to buy some healthy veggies and fruit.

Today when I had a hankering for a treat, I forced myself to buy an orange instead the junk food at the vending machines.

One dollar and thirty five cents. For one piece of fruit. For 75 cents, i could had gotten a Twix.

And this is the situation poor people face.

I also believe that it's God's irony to create poor and fat people. Mon Dieu! You would think that poor people are skinny, but many aren't. I've seen hefty homeless guys in San Francisco because they survive on burgers and fries.

[MarkyX]

Cigs are addicting...so is sugar, but not as bad.

As for thsi tax, it MIGHT work. When I was on my diet, it was really hard to control sugar cravings and so forth. Sugar is quite addictive.

I think if health products want to win, they not only need to beat the junk food prices, but taste good.

[ZeroAsALimit]

More money with the state, it may encourage some people to become healthier.

Win-Win!

Damned fine job on that Conservative win judging by this idea!

[MarkyX]

How can you have a right to tax another human being because they want to waste away smoking on cigarettes or become a fat ass from eating too much junk food?

Obesity causes strain in society because other people have to pay for their plight (especially in a socialist healthcare like others)

I've seen fat people USE handicap spaces because the doctor believed they are handicapped. I've seen fat people on scooters. I've seen fat people have nurses care for them.

And why do they get these benefits? Because they made an OBVIOUS poor choice and couldn't control themselves, and I pay for it as the result.

I used to be 180 pounds, shred that down to 145 in two months, and recently gained 5 pounds because I realized I was a too skinny. It is possible to lose weight, but you have to work hard, and with years under the liberals, not a lot of people have remebered what personal responsibility is.

Obesity is NOT good, since not only it burdens the healthcare system and saps resources, but can screw up the economy too. The fat ass could be working somewhere, but instead he is on a freaking scooter in walmart buying chips and expects us to care for his needs.

[Memorize]

It's just another way for the government to make more money. They're just using the whole "This will stop people from eating junk food" statement as kind of a cover up.

[Der-Ubermensch]

Ridiculous. This is just horribly twisted pretense to tax people even moreso.

The tax in itself is too insignificant to effectively discourage consumption.

[MoralLibertarian]

I found a fantastic article from the CATO institute about this very topic. Any interested folks check it out. Always an invigorating and wonderful read from CATO.

[Elfer]

At 2/23/06 01:53 AM, fli wrote: One dollar and thirty five cents. For one piece of fruit. For 75 cents, i could had gotten a Twix.

And this is the situation poor people face.

What the fuck man, where did you get a dollar thirty-five orange? That's a bit over the top.

Also, about fat homeless people, a lot of them aren't actually as fat as they appear, they're just skinny people wearing a LOT of layers of clothes.