To think fat people should pay higher taxes?

[SuedeEffectPochette]

Ok - I have grabbed your attention! I don't exactly mean this. The other day I was just wondering about the obesity crisis and thinking, - I would be a lot more motivated to lose weight if it knocked a penny off my income tax. I am obese, by the way, so I am not knocking fat people considering that I am one. But would this work? "Normal" weight people pay less income tax? I would definitely lose weight if it meant I paid less tax!! OK - it would take a bit of monitoring but I bet loads of people would lose weight and save money! I would. I am trying to lose weight anyway, but money would be good for motivating....

[FrancesNiadova]

Would I be weighed au naturelle, or would I leave on my air boot & keep my crutches? (Actually, my Zimmer might be lighter).

[Nomama]

Abra, to be absolutely honest... because her food is poorly cooked and tastes awful! It would put off many people from trying again. Which is a pity!

[whatsthatcomingoverthehill]

Snacks have not increased in size, the opposite has happened. A Mars bar is now 51g when 7 years ago it was 62.5g. The same thing has hapoenedbto most chocolates. I think crisps have gone down too but not by as much. Unless you buy the grab bags (or whatever they are called) but then you are making the choice for the larger size.

[TheRealAmandaClarke]

Well they look huge.
I wonder if you go back further than 7 years if that's the case.
And often in a filling station the only option is a grab bag. Plus thes the whole meal deal thing. So I might want a bag of nuts and a diet coke but there's a financial incentive to buy a sandwich, bag of crisps, chocolate bar etc. in the end I usually just get nothing because I cba to stand about choosing, but I'm guessing that more ppl buy more food than they originally wanted. And then if you eat whole driving or working you hardly notice the food going in.
One reason why fasting at work is so useful.

[EarthWindFire]

You can't do it by weight. I remember a study I think where the England Rugby team were weighed as something to do with this and to prove that there is no hard and fast rule.

Despite being extremely fit athletes if you go by height/weight, if I remember right everyone was classed as morbidly obese!!! Of course a lot if it was muscle weight not fat.

[whatsthatcomingoverthehill]

From what I understand chocolate bars started getting bigger in the 70s and then started to go down again from the late 90s. e.g. the Yorkie was 60g when launched in the 70s and by 2000 had increased to 70g, but now is down to 55g.

The sharing bags of chocolates have also come down - minstrels used to be 200g but are now around 150g.

It's not just chocolate. A tube of pringles is 190g now when it used to be 200g. Schloer was reduced from a litre to 750ml (with the price staying the same). Often they will try to hide these things with multibuy promotions, presumably in the hope that by the time the promotion ends people will have forgotten that they're getting 25% less for the same price.

Most of this is down to producers not wanting to put the cost up with inflation, so they reduce the size instead. Some of them say they are doing it to be 'responsible' and reduce the calorie intake. Brewers do similar when they reduce the alcohol content of their beers, forgetting to mention that as a byproduct of their responsibility they just happen to be saving millions in duty.

[vickibee]

Support fro health professionals is the answer, ther is help for gving up smoking, drinking and drugs but very limited help for weight management. The idea flagged of free memebership to WW or SW may be a start. It is more an emotional issue than a physical one.

[EarthWindFire]

I admit I am an emotional eater. I lost 5 stone, however it is creeping back on now due to my disability and currently immobile.

The die titans advice to me... You need to exercise more... Errr that's not going to happen any time soon you know due to being immobile

[FrancesNiadova]

Weight gain/obesity has also been linked to depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, disability, certain medical conditions, reactions to certain medicines. To suggest that obese people should be taxed or fined is just wrong.
Why do some people have to be so intolerant and judgemental of others?
If more taxes need to be raised,tax those people who own the un-inhabited mansions in Kensington: billionaires row! They have their houses registered as businesses in places like Antigua. Tax & judge them!

[JustAShopGirl]

I'm fat but fit (walk everywhere) - have not been to the docs for 15 years.

My friend is skinny, has run for fitness all her life and requires a knee replacement (possibly both) and has had to have an ankle fused, her hips are going the same way and she has had multiple scans - all at a great cost to the taxpayer.

which one of us should pay more tax?

[FrancesNiadova]

So true shopgirl. I'm within my BMI, but have had 7 operations in the last 3 1/2 years plus lots of on-going treatments & medicines. My life has totally changed & I'm now an expensive citizen!

I do tend to think of my Grandmother's words, "There, but for the grace of God, go I!"

[IrianofWay]

I am not overweight but I weigh quite a lot because I am nearly 6 ft tall. I hope you are going to tax according to BMI not weight?

But seriously I am not sure it would help. Most smokers I know who are still smoking swore blind they'd give up the evil weed when fags got to a pound a packet - and then 1.50 - and then 2.... ad infinitum. Many of them didn't. The reason I gave up was pregnancy and concern for my own health. IMO that is the reason most people quit - we all manage to find the money for our addictions somehow.

[BillyNotQuiteNoMates]

Taxing junk food at a. Higher rate would have the same affect and wouldn't target people who are overweight for medical reasons. No to an increase in income tax for over weight people, lots of overweight people are unemployed/low paid and don't pay income tax anyway. While I don't want to go to an American style medical insurance system, I feel that this is where we are heading with the general ideology of pay more if you are a smoker, pay more if you are a drinker/ overweight/ drug user etc, etc. A&E is packed with sports fanatics, shall we charge them more as well?

[DogCalledRudis]

They already pay more tax by consuming more food

[Fuchsiaa]

I'm extremely overweight and hardly eat any junk (chocolate maybe once every two or three months, can't remember the last time I had cake or biscuits, for example). I'm fat because I have PCOS and I can put on weight on a calorific intake that normal people would lose weight on. If I eat like my colleagues and friends do I pile on about 2 lbs or more per week.

It's already enough of a punishment for something I didn't choose to be having to pay a huge amount for new clothes and being considered lazy, greedy and ugly by large sections of society. Sometimes people don't choose to be unhealthy.

Taxing "unhealthy" foods more heavily would have rather minimal impact on me, but probably wouldn't be so great for those who have the opposite problem and are underweight for medical reasons.

[superstarheartbreaker]

go ffs sake. This must be the stupidest thread I have seen on here...EVER.

[superstarheartbreaker]

Yabu op

[rumbleinthrjungle]

I have a chronic illness and mobility problems plus medication that makes it difficult not to gain weight. I have fought and fought over the last 6 months to lose 2 stone, and I'm still 3 stone over my ideal weight. That 2 stone achievement is a huge one for me and I'm proud of it, and aware that I may not be able to get down to my ideal weight but any loss is good.I'm not entitled to disability support or any other kind of support, I'm just about managing to work enough to pay the bills..... how fair is a punitive tax on top of that for a situation I've got limited control over? It won't give me (or the thousands of others with this condition) any incentive, it is a pure punishment for bad luck.

The trouble with so many ideas like this is that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I do think it's wrong that it's far, far cheaper to buy rubbish processed food in supermarkets to feed a family than it is to buy fresh food and cook yourself without the salt, fat and chemicals added.

[TheRealAmandaClarke]

Ok I concede that regualr sized snack bars have shrunk (slightly)
But I think much of the extra fat carried about comes from emotional over eating and from mindless snacking, often a combination of the two.
And hard-line action is required to revse these trends. The is much more availability of rubbish- eat on the go- food. Bags of donuts, tubs of flapjacks etc. and yes, a regualr sized mars bar is a few grams lighter than in the 80s but the shelves a groaning with larger sized versions of those snacks.
Taxing ppl in relation to their weight is not the answer is it. Should men pay more income tax (irrespective of their wages) because they're more likely to commit a crime and cost the criminal justice service money? Should women pay more because we're using up health resources having babies in hospitals?
That's a no btw.
And taxing high sugar foods is also not a good idea IMHO. There's nothing wrong with enjoying a slice of chocolate cake. The problem we have is that we, as a nation, are mindlessly cramming empty calories into our bodies in orde to stave of boredom, stress, sadness, and also because it was buy one get one free at the checkout.
Ban the advertising of sweets and chocolates and crisps etc. then we would eat them when we really want them.

[tobysmum77]

yabu obviously

I can never understand all this 'cost to the nhs' bollocks re smoking, obesity etc. People who are unhealthy tend to die younger, therefore saving the nhs money and counteracting the spend earlier on.

[TheRealAmandaClarke]

Not really tbysmum
There is very little cost o the nhs by a person dying of old age.
The costs of treating smoking related and obesity related conditions ate, however, quite considerable

[Abra1d]

Diabetes costs the NHS a lot of money and type two is strongly linked to obesity.

[DikTrom]

I am sure tax incentives won't work.
I see it as a kind of addiction to food and don't forget in some cases there are medical issues as well (could be in the genes, could be due to a certain illness or certain medication). It clearly is a huge problem and only getting bigger.

IMO the government should take the food producers and advertising to task. Outright banning the most harmful products or slamming a huge health tax on these products. And, ensuring that the fresh fruit and veg are affordable to all, if necessary through a voucher scheme (so money is indeed spend on fruit and veg) for low income families. However, the food industry is as well organised as the tobacco industry so it won't be easy. Google BBC 'The men who make us thin' and 'The men who make us fat' or watch these very good documentaries on iPlayer. I found them real eye openers.

[DikTrom]

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[DikTrom]

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