To Encourage Healthy Eating, Higher Taxes Should Be Imposed on Soft Drinks and Junk Food. Do You Agree or Disagree.

With obesity rates increasing at an exponential rate, a tax on fat foods and specifically high sugar beverages of 20% or about 1 cent per ounce could reduce obesity rates by 3.5%, bringing the rate down to 30% among adults (Kalaidis). While 3.5% may not sound like a lot, if you take an approximate U.S. population of 350 million people, suddenly that mere 3.5% turns into over 12 million Americans who would no longer be considered obese. Marion Nestle, a well-respected expert in food policy, recently conducted a study investigating the impact of a junk food tax through predictive modeling. Her study revealed that 2,600 deaths, 9,500 heart attacks, and 240,000 new cases of diabetes could be prevented with a simple 1 cent per ounce tax on sugary beverages (Satran). A junk food tax of this kind could greatly increase the health of the American public as a whole by reducing death rates and healthcare

“ We have become a fast food Nation of bulging waistlines and high blood pressures.”,said Ronnie Cummins in his article, “ Tax on Junk Food Can Help Pay the Costs of Diet-Related Diseases.” Diet related obesity,diabetes and heart diseases are now USA’s number 1 public health problems because of non-healthy foods,this is why there should be a tax on junk food,why we should serve healthier lunches in school cafeterias ,and why we should restrict advertisements of junk foods in the mass media.Would taxing junk food ,eating healthier ,and restricting junk food advertisements be so bad if you thought about how many people it could save?

Even if consumers stop buying a certain type of junk food, they will move on to something else that all before wasn’t considered “unhealthy” until people started gaining weight from it. With having that opinion, to me there is no need to even put a tax on junk food in the first place.

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.

The debate on weather sugary drinks, especially soda, should be taxed or not has been a topic for years. Some people believe that they should be taxed for the improvement of health while on the other hand some people think that taxing the drinks won't do much and actually hurt people. Taxing sugary drinks is helpful to those who have a hard time with temptation for the drinks. In the article "Do Soda Taxes Really Work?" Sifferlin states that when researchers looked at Berkeley residents, they found that when taxing soda started "sales of sugary-sweetened drinks fell by close 10% and sales of water increased in Berkeley by about 16%" (4) Just by the percent difference rasing prices on soda made people decide against buying the sweet drinks,

If less people eat junk food, there will be fewer diseases and medical costs will decline. The government will save a lot money by adding taxes on junk food, but also will save many peoples’ lives which is more important and trough this policy the government will interfere in peoples’ food choices in a good way.

Today, research asserts soda is one of the leading causes of poor health outcomes in the United States. People define soda as carbonated beverages, or soft drinks, or fizzy drinks. A significant relationship exists between the consumption of carbonated drinks and obesity, type 2 diabetes and dental caries in the United States (Gollust et al., 52). Tax on soda is considered as a government’s intervention to regulate the consumption of these kinds of drinks. In fact, soda should be taxed in the United States because it discourages the consumption of soda, makes people healthier, and raises government funds.

In America’s present economic state, citizens are looking for one thing: convenience. The American lifestyle has evolved into a quick pace, overwhelming schedule with Americans looking to fulfill their needs through affordable and easily reachable means. There has been an increased approval in fast food and convenience store establishments that provide swift and stimulating products. It is the inexpensive and easy way to purchase these “goods” that is slowly deterring the well-being of our country. The reason behind the low prices of such unhealthy choices provided by fast food restaurants and convenience stores is attributed to the subsidizing of producers of companies making the junk food. These companies such as McDonald’s, Coke, Pepsi, and Burger King contribute to the amplified rates of diabetes and obesity. Therefore a sensible solution is to tax the companies’ goods to make them less attractive to consumers who sequentially will lead improved life in buying less expensive, healthier foods.

Considering that soft drink are one of the most popular drinks to a lot of people all around the world, unfortunately, a lot of them love to drink it almost every day and may not live without it. Soda becomes addictive, preventing one from drinking what the body needs the most which is water. In the market, there is an infinite amount of choices with multiple varieties of flavors, different tastes, and ranges from classic soda to diet soda. However, consumers do not recognize clearly the negative effect of soft drinks that have a high chance of eroding their health away. Some of these examples include dental erosion, energy intake, obesity and other health issues. In order to combat these negative effects, taxes

Eating unhealthy foods is one of the major causes of obesity today; but should there be a higher tax on all soft drinks and junk food? Should people be punished for eating what they want? Yes, there are health risks involved with an unhealthy diet but is a higher taxing on these foods the right alternative? With the price of healthcare raising maybe the extra tax could help alleviate it, maybe not. Perhaps the higher tax will turn people away from buying unhealthy foods and drinks. Consuming unwholesome food can lead to clogged arteries, heart attacks and many other fatal illnesses. Buying the healthier substitute may help our

It is unsurprising that most white-collar workers ,accountants, banker ,real estate agents ,for instance, who usually perform job duties in an office setting are considerably assumed to be obese more than the blue-collar workers who perform labor jobs and typically work with their hand.Although,because of their duties that make people inactive,It is unlikely reasonable excuse to ignore health problem because you can not fix organs if they broken unlike machine.Consequently,to begin with set your exercise plan 3 time per week in order to stay in good health is not waste your time ,isn’t it? It is significant to realize that people argue that the responsibility should be taken by the government.Giving more healthy food choices that are cheaper than fast foods including showing their calories seem to become practical project which help to limit obesity in society.In fact ,If healthy foods become cheap and convenient food choices ,people will decide easily to choose them rather than fast foods. Therefore,in other word, increasing the prices would discourage consumption. For example, In Denmark , the first country that increased tax about 3 $ in the price every kilogram on foods containing more than 2.3% saturated fats, which includes dairy products, meat ,oil and processed foods in 2011 had been found that 10%of Danes are obese,however this scheme

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.

Paying taxes is something everyone does. We pay taxes on cars, property, and on our income. What about the junk food we consume? This has been debated for years that it will or will not work. How do we educate the public? Why should we do it? Where will the money be going? What groups will it serve? Prices are already high, so where is the money coming from? Everything that is done must be motivated because if not, it becomes a fad - here today and gone tomorrow. Only things that are done repetitively are made into habits. As a person, all things can be done if we have a desire and a need. Taxes on junk food and soda will not work unless everyone is educated on the utilization of revenues, health advantages, and motivated sufficiently to make a more healthy change.

“Despite limited empirical evidence, there is growing concern that junk food availability in schools has contributed to the childhood obesity epidemic” (datar). Considerable attention has been focused on schools in an attempt to identify policy levers that will help reverse the obesity epidemic. Junk food is very dangerous towards people’s health and can lead to many harmful effects. One in three children in this country is still overweight or obese. Students sometimes don’t have time to eat breakfast home so they tend to come to school and use vending machine filled with junk food. Junk food is making students lazy and not active.

The New Zealand government should have a tax to regulate the consumption of sugary drinks or foods, because this leads to decrease issues of people 's health and it would be heartening healthy conducts.