Fat Tax Yes Or No?

[disco man]

Not sure if this is the right way to go about the problem,I think it comes down to personal choice,what do you guys think?


Tax on fat our best chance to beat the bulge | Townsville Bulletin (http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/news/opinion/tax-on-fat-our-best-chance-to-beat-the-bulge/story-fnjfzqwh-1227108368265)

[Eevo]

yes, because everything can be fixed with more taxes

[FeatherWeightDriver]

Looks to have been written by someone skinny. ;)

I am a featherweight, but eat like a heavyweight - so should I pay the tax too?

[Ausfree]

Always the same answer to a problem...............tax it. I don't know what the answer is, but if you choose a certain lifestyle and it is costing the tax payer to support your choice, I guess the money has to be recouped somehow.

[BigJon]

GST is already levied on proccessed foods (ie, not staples). Surely that is a fat tax of sorts.

[Jeff]

I don't think it will happen with the current treasurer :eek:.

I remember years ago going to the Blue Mountains and walking along an elevated walkway near Echo Point, it said it had been opened by Joe Hockey. I said to wifey, "At least you know it has been stress tested."

Jeff

:rocket:

[Slunnie]

I don't think it will happen with the current treasurer :eek:.

I remember years ago going to the Blue Mountains and walking along an elevated walkway near Echo Point, it said it had been opened by Joe Hockey. I said to wifey, "At least you know it has been stress tested."

Jeff

:rocket:
I thought he was thinner now with his austerity measures. Lucky he wasn't skinny to start with.

[PhilipA]

But skinny people are less likely to recover from serious disease than people who are overweight when they are older.

There have been studies that showed that fat stores help older patients to survive while skinny people have fewer internal resources and either take longer to recover or die. This takes up hospital resources

So lets have a skinny tax , starting with clothing models.
Regards Philip A

[London Boy]

But skinny people are less likely to recover from serious disease than people who are overweight when they are older.

There have been studies that showed that fat stores help older patients to survive while skinny people have fewer internal resources and either take longer to recover or die. This takes up hospital resources

So lets have a skinny tax , starting with clothing models.
Regards Philip A
But if we're being completely honest, when we say fat stores help older patients, we're talking moderate fat, not great big buckets of lard. Obesity costs a lost more than pretty much anything except smoking.

[manic]

Pay for fat people? How. Old 80+ people need tax money. Fat people spend money and die young ... so many ways to manipulate the maths. On the grand scale of things, this is not an issue to vex about. But if you want to make a meal of it.....

[chopper]

Yes. Especially on aeroplanes, you pay extra for a heavy bag, why not a heavy ass.

[CraigE]

Ok how about a druggy tax
a alcoholic tax
a bludger tax
a dickehead tax
a moron tax
and the list goes on.

[Homestar]

Although I'm not sure entirely what the answer is, a tax certainly isn't the way to go. All this does is hit the low income earners/Pensioners harder - again. They bear the brunt of all these sorts of things. Well off people don't care if something costs a few cents/dollars more, so will continue to consume the same as always. Those that can't afford it will have thier choices reduced even further. It just helps to make the divide between the haves and have nots even wider.

For those that don't know me - I'm a fatty, but with resonable disposable income, so a fat tax certainly wouldn't work with me. I'm trying to loose weight (and have started to shed a few KG's) but that is through getting my arse out of bed at 5.30 to take the dogs for a walk, and stuffing less in my mouth at meal times, and giving up sugar - totally. Education and support is far more effective - in my case at least. Although many may not think it is rocket science to loose weight, there is a LOT of mis information out there - like 'low fat' products - which are packed with sugar and will make you put on fat more that the fat would have. I have spent a lot of time trying to sort through all the crap to work out what works for me, and I'm getting there - slowly.

I'm sure many fall for all the marketing hype and have no chance of loosing weight without help - that doen't come from a tax...

[solmanic]

Hmmm, I would have thought the risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and early death would have been enough to scare people off over eating & under exercising... but perhaps not it seems.

Our obesity epidemic has come from growing up with an "eat everything on your plate - there are children starving in Africa" mentality. This comes from a couple of generations of parents who lived through a few world wars and had to struggle to put food on the plate but still did a hell of a lot more manual labour. Later generations have simply carried this idea forward in a time when there was plenty of entertainment available in our air conditioned lounge rooms and air conditioned cars to get us 1/2 a block down the street to Maccas.

The new mentality that needs to be taught is "eat until you're not hungry but not until you're full".

[trog]

I consider it another form of substance abuse. There is no need to fill a trolley with soft drink and processed food. But maybe in the long run the effects of gross and widespread obesity might thin the herd a bit. I know i need to shift a few kg but I refrain from most of what packs on the kilos, except my Friday beers. To pay for this 5 to 6 sessions in the gym. Tax or no tax make an effort.

[Homestar]

Hmmm, I would have thought the risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and early death would have been enough to scare people off over eating & under exercising... but perhaps not it seems.

I think it is the same as smokers know what the risks are and continue smoking. I think everyone thinks 'That will never happen to me - that's the sort of thing that happens to others.' I certainly did for a long time. It didn't help that during my yearly health check ups and blood tests that my Doctor says 'You're tests are all fine, apart from carrying a few extra Kg's your healthy'. If my Doc had told me 3 years ago that I was going to die unless I did something, then maybe I would have twigged a bit quicker.

The biggest thing that is making me try to loose the weight now is that my knees and back are starting to play up and that is a direct result from me carrying those Kg's. If i don't do something now, I may not be physically able to do something later. It was that, and the scales hitting 135Kg that was the turning point for me. I'm now just under 130 and heading in the right direction.:)

[PhilipA]

Heredity has a big part to play in the ability to lose weight.

That is why you can weigh Tongan choirs by the tonne.

Many races adapted to lack of food for long periods by storing fat in good periods to tide them over and researchers have found that Polynesians fall into this category.

I am 188CM and 113Kg which is technically obese but I am not IMHO, just overweight. I went to Weightwatchers and got down to ideal weight which is 95Kg and I was miserable. But I was 12Lb born and my father was 14Lb, so I was never going to be a ballet dancer, and I am 128CMs around the chest and play quite a bit of sport.

So I don't see how taxes could work.
Regards Philip A

[Bob Harding]

Watch the doco "The Men Who Made Us Fat" tis a eye opener

[Outback 1]

I thought he was thinner now with his austerity measures. Lucky he wasn't skinny to start with.

fattest part of him would have to be his head lol:o:o:o:p:p:p:D:D:D

[Outback 1]

Ok how about
a bludger tax
a dickehead tax
a moron tax
and the list goes on.

our polititions would never be aloud to fly :p;):p

[CraigE]

There are just way too many reasons why, some legit some not so. It is not really fair to tar everyone with the same brush. I need to lose a few kgs as I am currently around 104kgs and 175cms tall. I dont eat a lot of so called junk food and just dont seem to shift much either way.
How can you penalise someone who puts on weight but does not eat much junk food and is fairly active?
There are better ways that can be achieved especially with junk food but our govts dont have the balls to implement. The single way they can do is this is to ensure manufacturers reduce sugar and salt content as well as additives and hormones or hormone like substances. This can be done without changing taste, it is just companies do not want to invest in doing this.
Our kids are not just getting fatter but also way bigger in general and a lot of this is to do with food additives. My 14yo is already about 174cm his 13yo mate across the road is around 185cms and another friend who is just 18 around 193cms.
So a lot of different variables.

[solmanic]

Heredity has a big part to play in the ability to lose weight.

Only partly true.

There is scientific info stating that fat cells develop during childhood & the number & size of them then remains constant into adulthood. And even if you then lose weight you still have the same number of fat cells which is why many people lose weight only to put it back on again.

A lot of people who believe their body-mass index is hereditary were simply overfed as children by their overweight parents who probably just had a distorted idea of what constituted a normal meal portion. The parents were also likely to have been overfed by their parents and so on. Your cultural observation about Pacific islanders is correct although not due to genes, just due to cultural eating patterns.

Smaller portions and no snacks between meals for children is the only way to prevent them growing too many fat cells. And once they've got them, they can't get rid of them.

[nugge t]

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[DiscoMick]

I was at a school camp last week and at 10pm one night four already overweight girls got on the phone and ordered not one, not two, not even five but TEN pizzas to share! Its no wonder they are already too fat to participate in sport and other strenuous activities. Bad choices, bad choices. Obviously their parents just let them do what they like.

[Eevo]

part of the problem is that fatty food is cheap
and healthy food is expensive.

[Chucaro]

I don't think it will happen with the current treasurer :eek:.

I remember years ago going to the Blue Mountains and walking along an elevated walkway near Echo Point, it said it had been opened by Joe Hockey. I said to wifey, "At least you know it has been stress tested."

Jeff

:rocket:

No, he is overweight :D

[solmanic]

part of the problem is that fatty food is cheap
and healthy food is expensive.

This myth has been exploded numerous times on various current affairs shows. As far as food court takeaway goes, 2x sushi rolls are usually cheaper than a Big Mac. Even a ham & salad sandwich at most greasy spoons is cheaper than a burger. Fresh fruit & veg plus deli meat & bread is way cheaper again but you have to build your meal yourself. The real issue is that fatty food is just more available in ready-made forms and it's loaded with sugar & salt so our brains are trained to crave it like crack when we are hungry.

[Eevo]

This myth has been exploded numerous times on various current affairs shows. As far as food court takeaway goes, 2x sushi rolls are usually cheaper than a Big Mac. Even a ham & salad sandwich at most greasy spoons is cheaper than a burger. Fresh fruit & veg plus deli meat & bread is way cheaper again but you have to build your meal yourself. The real issue is that fatty food is just more available in ready-made forms and it's loaded with sugar & salt so our brains are trained to crave it like crack when we are hungry.


sushi has rice. rice is one of the biggest causes of type 2 diabetes.


at the places around my work, a sandwich costs more then a big mac.
less than a burger at a grill place though. also the sizing is very different.

bread, assuming white bread, not healthy for you.

[101RRS]

sushi has rice. rice is one of the biggest causes of type 2 diabetes.


Hmmmm - no - is certainly an issue in working out what you eat once you have type two diabetes due to its carbohydrate content.

Diabetes is not caused by any one type (or mix of food) it is caused by getting fat, low activity and maybe a component of predisposition.

If you have diabetes than things change.

If rice caused diabetes then all peoples who eat it would have type 2 diabetes. Those that eat solely a eastern diet generally do not - it is when they switch to a western diet with its fat that issues arise.

Garry

[disco man]

Watch the doco "The Men Who Made Us Fat" tis a eye opener

You got that right mate:eek: Incredible the change in portion size over a short time.

[disco man]

There are just way too many reasons why, some legit some not so. It is not really fair to tar everyone with the same brush. I need to lose a few kgs as I am currently around 104kgs and 175cms tall. I dont eat a lot of so called junk food and just dont seem to shift much either way.
How can you penalise someone who puts on weight but does not eat much junk food and is fairly active?
There are better ways that can be achieved especially with junk food but our govts dont have the balls to implement. The single way they can do is this is to ensure manufacturers reduce sugar and salt content as well as additives and hormones or hormone like substances. This can be done without changing taste, it is just companies do not want to invest in doing this.
Our kids are not just getting fatter but also way bigger in general and a lot of this is to do with food additives. My 14yo is already about 174cm his 13yo mate across the road is around 185cms and another friend who is just 18 around 193cms.
So a lot of different variables.

Very well said Craig.