Fat Tax

[2RUBLE]

I was watching Holmes last night and the big issue of the day was 'FAT TAX'. The way i see it is the government is basically saying 'ur all too fat - so we're gunna tax you for it'. They are considering putting in a tax for all fast foods and food with a high fat content. So that means no more late night cheap McD's out on the lap.

They did a poll and 68% sed NO to Fat Tax and 32% sed YES to Fat Tax

What do you guys reckon - will it help sort out our 'obesity' problem or will it just leave us more out of pocket (like with cigarettes and alcohol)

[zEpHyRiNe]

I dont think it'll solve anything, i mean, the alcohol tax isnt stopping people from getting drunk...

And due to contrary belief, fat people dont gorge themselves on fast food every couple of hours like people seem to think.. has anyone else noticed that there arent ever that many, (if any) "fat" people in/near fast food places?

[Roush]

agreed zepho.

ITS MY $&#$% DECISION IF I WANNA BE A FAT BLOB.

I work, i pay tax, GST, petrol tax, ciggerette tax, alcohol tax and i eat extreme amounts of fast food, in fact, about twice to three times a day.

the government doesnt tax to help us, they tax for money. if they wanted to help, theyd set up a fat busting place, or a free gym, i dunno.

they put tax on EVERYTHING, its for money, not for anything else.

the government doesnt care about me, the feeling is mutual

[MrBob]

And due to contrary belief, fat people dont gorge themselves on fast food every couple of hours like people seem to think.. has anyone else noticed that there arent ever that many, (if any) "fat" people in/near fast food places?

Pfft, been to your local KFC lately?

Obese people dont necessarily eat heaps of food, often they just consistiently eat the wrong kind of food.

Theres plenty of fit fat people around and unfit skinny people. The tax is aimed at reducing the associated health risks of regulary eating fatty food (colestrol, blocked arteries / heart disease, kidney damage, bowel cancer etc)

Just cos you dont get fat from eating shite food dosent mean you arent suffering from any of the above.

I also know fat people who regulay exercise and wont touch junk food.

....so yeah, i dont have a problem with tax on shitty food, cos anyone who eats it is exposed to the same risks. Look at it this way, if you dont eat it now the tax wont affect you........if you would be affected that much by the tax, then maybe you're eating too much of it


oh, a lil more exercise wouldnt hurt anyone either, regardless of whether you're fat or thin

[MrBob]

agreed zepho.

ITS MY f**ken DECISION IF I WANNA BE A FAT BLOB.

I work, i pay tax, GST, petrol tax, ciggerette tax, alcohol tax and i eat extreme amounts of fast food, in fact, about twice to three times a day.

its just fukin great when people go on about their rights to abuse the fuk outta their bodies, especially when its everyone elses tax that pays for your free medical care when you need bypass surgery, or chemotherapy for cancer .....and a benefit cos you're no longer able to work. Yeah sure, you pay tax too, but it sux to kno my tax is going towards caring for people you were too inconsiderate to look after them selves when they had the chance.
Not to mention holding up the line for surgery and treatment when there are other people that really need it and had no choice over their illness.

[MrOizo]

this tax will most lkely go to the pockets of some FAT assed MP in parliament

what should be done (which i think is going to be done) is that the tax should go to the healthy food companies making them more expensive and subsidising the healthy foods making them more affordable

PROBLEM SOLVED

BUT! in NZ we have to pay that $&#$% in parliament for 5 years to come up with the solution ..

all that time to write yes on a $&#$% piece of paper! geeeeeezzzz

fertilizer bomb on parliament anyone?

[MrBob]

the tax should go to the healthy food companies making them more expensive and subsidising the healthy foods making them more affordable

actually, this was one suggestion they came up with for the tax, was only a suggestion tho

fertilizer bomb on parliament anyone?

Amen to that !

[Jools]

Ok....for a start people who dont eat properly, wont be put off, they will just be giving the government more money.
Healthy food is ridiculously more expensive than unhealthy food, why not give healthly food companies tax breaks instead so at least its a viable option?
Especially as the largest obesse sector are low income earners. Making them pay more to eat aint gonna help no one.
Oh and im obesse and eat fast food. But im in pretty good health.

[EyeAmOne]

I'm obese, but I don't eat takeaways. Havent done for a few months now (with 1 exception - BK salads), and nothing's happening weight wise BUT even before I started "dieting" (for lack of a better word), I didnt eat nearly as many takeaways as a lot of people as I didnt have the $$$. What made me fat was bread! I don't know how many people know this but carbohydrate rich foods make you fatter than actually eating fat....

When the government finds that one out there'll be bread tax, potato tax, rice tax, pasta tax, breakfast cereal tax, etc. What a wank.

I just hope that they dont tax the salads and shit from BK, coz the chicken one is sooo good!

[AngelTwin]

It's getting ridiculous!!! It's a bunch of politicians trying to run everyone's lives for them!!! Conformity! Bah!

Make healthy food cheaper and maybe we'd eat more of it!!! Fast food maybe fatty, but it's also cheap food!!!

Stupid government!!!

[zEpHyRiNe]

i wonder what theyd class subway as... i mean, although it has healthy options they still have fatty stuff.. but the point is, subway rulz and is nicer than maccas/kfc/bk anyway

[Loudtoy]

ok here's my 5 cents seeing as you can't get 2 cents anymore!

Jools your spot on with your assesment that low income earners eat most of the takeaways sold in new zealand (about half of all people eating fast food i think i read somewhere)!
The problem with this proposed "fat tax" is that the poor/dole dependant fat people won't stop eating fast foods, inmho they won't even eat less! What will happen is that there cost of living will suddenly go up - they will return to winz offices in their droves to get an increase because their food bill has risen and they will be given extra money! Now the rest of us people who are fortunate enough to have a decent paying job will be paying extra money to the government so they can pay welfare dependant people more so they too can enjoy mc's/kfc/fish and chips/chinese/pizza like the rest of us!

So in summary the rest of us pay more for fast food so that others less fortunate can also afford to eat fast food while the government sits back and thinks to it's collective self that they have done New Zealand in whole a favour by reducing the amount of obese people where as they won't have done anything but drive the cost of living up for the average working man and made things harder on welfare dependants!

[[TWZTID]]

You dont only get fat from eating fatty foods...no exercise & too many kilojules (more inserted than needed) does it too

[MRT1TRD]

I need the fat!
If they didint have fast food i would die of anorexeia cause like most of us ive got little time some days to cook i would have little energy to work also so id lose that as well.

Are they gonna tax us for deep fryin at home as well?

In reality the whole idea is to get them more $$$ thats aslo why they incresed the Alcimahol tax, they dont care about the general public they just want your $$$

[Distrb]

Has anyone seen the new ad for maccas on telly???

apparently cheesburgers and such have a nutritional value and may actually be good for you!

marketing ploy??

[Jools]

apparently cheesburgers and such have a nutritional value and may actually be good for you!

Yeah its not the first time maccas pulled this stunt. I remeber when they were handing out leaflets with nutritional information on them in store.
But it was all proved to be BS. Maccas slewed the numbers by testing for only certin things in certin ways. So no, there is bugger all nutritional value in maccas.

[Distrb]

apparently cheesburgers and such have a nutritional value and may actually be good for you!

Yeah its not the first time maccas pulled this stunt. I remeber when they were handing out leaflets with nutritional information on them in store.
But it was all proved to be BS. Maccas slewed the numbers by testing for only certin things in certin ways. So no, there is bugger all nutritional value in maccas.

yeah i got given one of those ages ago, i just saw the add and thought it was hella humourous as IMHO there is no real health benifits from eating takeaway food (except for maybe subway)

maybe they are trying to say they dont make fatty food in an effort to avoid the "Fat Tax" issue