Obesity : A Major Health Crisis

In 2009, a prestigious think tank in Washington, D.C. proposed a 10% tax on what they called “Fattening food of little nutritional value.” They stated that based on their study, such a tax could raise 500 billion dollars in tax revenue over 10 years, which could be put towards paying off America's ever expanding national debt (Waist). Americans spend an extremely disproportional amount of money on health care costs related to lifestyle diseases. In recent years, Americans spent $190 billion on healthcare related to obesity, which is over one-fifth of total annual healthcare spending (Baird). Because Americans would have more money to spend, a tax on fattening foods and beverages could promote economic growth for private businesses and an increase in revenue for the

There has been an increased availability, accessibility, and affordability of food, this could explain the excess energy intake and weight gain among different populations. In addition to the easy access to food, there has also been decreased opportunities for physical activity in the recent years. Researchers have proposed a range of interventions to reduce obesity, these include, restricting the advertisement of unhealthy foods to children, improving school meals, using taxation to reduce consumption of unhealthy foods and providing subsidies to increase intake of healthy foods, and supply-chain incentives to increase the production of healthy foods (The GBD 2015 Obesity Collaborators.

Obesity is a continuing problem in the American society. Obesity, occurs when, the amount of energy taken is more than the energy released (Abraham 237). The growing obesity rates could be slightly declined by the availability of more affordable, healthier foods and the decline of these temporary quick fit diets, many Americans put themselves on as a means to get fit. The opposing viewpoint may suggest that obesity can be fixed simply by shopping for better, healthier food choices in grocery stores and learning how to count calories to maintain a healthy weight; but that simple solution may not be an achievable solution for every American. Furthermore, the difference of cost between healthy compared to unhealthy foods is completely outrageous. Numberless people strive to go into a grocery store and select all of the healthy food options of their liking; however, healthy food options cost more and are seemingly unaffordable compared to junk food. The government should regulate the prices of junk and healthy food as a means to combat obesity in America, so that all persons can achieve good health.

In a society where diseases such as diabetes and obesity are pervasive, action must be taken to combat the diseases. In Canada, Statistic Canada found that almost a third of Canadians aged 5 to 17 is overweight or obese. According to the World Health Organization standards of measurement, 31.5% of 5 to 17 year old Canadians are classified as overweight or obese from 2009 to 2011. With the high rates of obesity in Canadian children, which many affect their quality of life in the future as many diseases will develop as an adult. Canadian doctors attribute to the fact that the food industry has made it easy for Canadians to gain calories. The Canadian government must impose a junk food tax to make sure that accessing junk food and gaining calories will be more difficult. With the junk food tax, the Canadian government will increase tax revenues, Canadians will be able to change their lifestyles and the risk of Canadians having diseases such as obesity and diabetes will be dramatically decreased.

Throughout the past few decades the obesity rate in the United States has been climbing to horrifying levels. Many people have come up with different solutions to this problem but none of them seem to be stopping the rates from growing as fast as they are. There is no exact cure to this problem, however there are steps people can take in order to ensure that overtime this problem can slowly become a problem of the past. This proposal will go through many different ideas on how the problem may be solved. It will also show how some of these ideas may be helpful or harmful in their own ways. Due to the complexities of the obesity epidemic in America, there must be fluidity within the solution itself to ensure a broader fix for this large scale

Obesity is a problem in America, as it is in other Western countries. The population of a country is always a reflection of its government, so our government decided that it’s time to dip their hands into this problem and come up with possible solutions to our growing unhealthy population of people. The solution that is discussed in the articles “Bad food? Tax it, and subsidize vegetables” by Mark Bittman and “Meddling in other people’s diet is ‘fun’ and ‘inspiring’” by Jacob Sullum is that we should (or shouldn’t, in Sullum’s case) place a tax on unhealthy, processed foods. Although relatively strong arguments are presented in both articles, they both miss the point entirely and wouldn’t solve the problem of rising health issues in Americans.

One solution to excess weight is a tax on foods that contribute to obesity: sugary drinks and fast food.

Roehr’s article speaks about the how the average expenditure on obesity doubled in recent years due to significant increase in obesity rates across the United States. Between 1998 and 2006, obesity prevalence rose by 37% and the cost of expenditure related to obesity during this time period rose from $74 billion to $147 billion. This is because soda and sugary drinks have become relatively cheap over the years. Money is something that is on everyone’s mind, especially in this tough economy. Cheap drinks lead to an increase in sales and subsequently an increase rate of obesity in a matter of several years. Dr. Frieden, the director the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention, says, “[p]rice is an important factor in shaping people’s diet.” He recommends having a substantial tax on soda drinks, 1 cent per liquid ounce, would be the only and most effective method of combating the obesity epidemic. Also this type of tax will help generate $100 to $200 billion over the course of the next ten

“If and when the public chooses to use government power to offset the factors that promote obesity, we can do so. A day may come when we decide to limit advertising of unhealthy food, strengthen lifestyle teaching in schools, and create stronger financial incentives to adhere to lifestyle recommendations. The more eager we the people are to fight the obesogenic environment, the more responsive and effective our governments will become” (Medscape General Medicine, vol. 9, no. 4, 2007).

Government intervention has often been loathed in many instances throughout history through tax resistance. Stretching from ancient to recent history, the governed have often resisted unfair and costly taxes enforced by those of authority. This pattern extended from taxes such as the Stamp Act and Sugar Act from the Revolutionary War to post Greco-Persian War Taxes which soon led to the fall of the Persian Empire. The use of a similar tax, a "fat tax", is now being debated between the walls of Congress. This fat tax would be met with much resistance and would have many unintended repercussions. Although a fat tax would aid in deterring many from some unhealthy foods, introducing this tax would result in a heavy societal tax and be maladdressing this sensitive and complex issue.

Statistics have shown that even though Americans consume less calories, the percentage of overweight and obese Americans is still on the rise.4 Restaurants have also found that even though that the calories were posted next to the products that were being sold, that customers actually purchased even more calories since the changes were made to the menus.5 The country of Denmark was able to sustain the “Fat Tax” for a year before it was eventually repealed. While the “Fat Tax” was still being implemented by the Denmark government, citizens resorted to cheaper but equally as unhealthy junk food. As states tried to enforce the use of a “Candy Tax” the specific definition of what was candy varied greatly between store to store. Consequently, this led to store clerks not knowing what to tax and the inevitable failure of the “Candy Tax”.

With a growing epidemic of obesity in America, some states and lawmakers have resorted to taking unconventional measures in order to counter the growing issue. Many legislators are debating the effectiveness of a “fat tax” would be on limiting the consumption of soda, high fat foods, and high sugar foods, and ultimately reducing the rate of morbidity and mortality due to obesity. The idea is that long term consumption of high fat, high sugar foods and drinks lead to many health problems, so making them more expensive and less accessible should decrease the health issues related to their consumption.

Medical research has shown that in recent years the amount of peopoe suffering from diseases such as obesity has increased rapidly. This is a cause for concern as obesity can result in several health complications which place patients who suffer from obesity at a higher risk of death. In order to combat this rise in obesity many have suggested that the government implement a tax on fatty foods. They feel as though taxing fatty foods would help reduce the obesity in a country. Others disagree and feel as though placing a tax on fatty foods could only have regressive consequences. Personally, I do not think a tax on foods containing fat should be implemented and I hope to convince the reader of my opinion by weighing the costs and the benefits

The fat tax has some good intentions and will possibly result in more people eating healthy. The unhealthy foods we eat can cause dangerous conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart attack, cancer, and many more (“What Can Obesity Lead To”). A fat tax can alter people’s eating habits and prevent them from getting these diseases and improve the amount of healthy individuals in the country. Obesity is mainly caused by unhealthy foods, this tax is a way to limit people’s consumption of foods with high sodium and sugar. A fat tax could improve your health and expand your life expectancy all while helping the government save billions of dollars (“Sugar, Salts, And Fat Taxes Could Save Health Budget $3.4 Billion And Increase Life Expectancy”). A healthy nation with a government whose financial state is rising.

Economic costs of obesity are increasing and will continue to do so if nothing is done. Healthy Communities for A Healthy Future state that the estimated annual health care costs related to obesity are 190 billion dollars. This is 21% of total health care costs. This includes direct costs, such as preventive and treatment services, while indirect costs include income lost to days debilitated or future income lost to death. On an individual level, an obese person will cost 42% more in health care than a person of healthy weight. A tax directly related to products known to cause obesity would offset the cost of health care, and hopefully result in less obesity in the Nation.