Should We Tax the Fat? (UK)?

I know this will cause controversial responses, and please note that my opinion is not yet formed, hence the question.

Overweight people cost the NHS 拢4.6Billion a year through treatment, rehab, care, special home equipment and death. This is serious money that could be reinvested into education, health care and other vital resources that are shockingly underfunded.

I know this will cause controversial responses, and please note that my opinion is not yet formed, hence the question.

Overweight people cost the NHS 拢4.6Billion a year through treatment, rehab, care, special home equipment and death. This is serious money that could be reinvested into education, health care and other vital resources that are shockingly underfunded.

EDIT:

For your information, consider that alcohol users andsmokers are already taxed extra when they purchase alcohol or ciggarettes.

We should tax the fast food joints!

Definitely - an extortionate tax on chips, pies, lard and cream cakes should be levied immediately

Sure. Right after we tax the ignorant and insensitive. Brace yourself.

yes. well the ones that refuse to work or help themselves in any way (or the ones that are decided by a third party to be costing the public)

then again the others that have genuine reasons for their weight, may just neeed some better support, or understanding.

How would we do it tho?
Tax their Income Support so they cant buy fast food or alcohol?
Or charge them everytime they go to the doctors?
yeah do it! But wait until I set up a slimming club I could make a fortune..........

One the one hand the government is concerned about the potentially high mortality rate caused by obesity and on the other they are saying that there will be no money to pay for the state pension in the future because people are living longer.

Hidden agenda somewhere?

My wife is a hospital administrator, and occasionally has to tell obese patients that sorry, you won't fit in the body-scanner for an MRI... I've heard that sometimes patients have to go to the LOCAL ZOO to be scanned! If that's not a "wake-up-and-smell-the-salad" call, then what's the point?

Thin people cause problems also by not purchasing things.

Then let us tax the smokers, aged, thin, drug users etc. etc., etc., I could go on but what is the point.

Some people are overweight through no fault of their own, and your comment will cause much offence to them after all no doubt they pay their taxes just like the above, from which the NHS is funded.

So why just the fatties then, what about the smokers and the alcohol abusers and the drug users and the people that claim benefit and work, what about people like Ian Huntley that we pay to keep a alive, etc etc etc etc

I could go on all day mate so its not fair just to attack the fat people as you put it.

They should be taxed more for the amount of waste they leave and i,m not just talking about all the food rappers.
They should be taxed by the sewage companies as they must
s h i t more than the rest of us,so using more water and chemicals to brake all the crap down.

As a bit of a tubby myself, I have to say no!

Should the NHS then refuse to treat all 'self inflicted' illness or injury?

So if you are fat, an anorexic, alcoholic, a drug abuser, an accident-prone skydiver, or injure your self whilst drunk, you shouldnt be treated?

I can see what you are saying, but as a tax payer, I do pay into the system, and deserve treatment as much as the next person.

If the government did then they would have to tax the binge drinker/ alcoholics, druggies and smokers. Where would the line be drawn?
Why do you think people pay tax and national insurance?? I thought they paid for NHS treatment!!!!!!

Why not tax the big corporations who are making people fat? Tax the sugar and cadburys industries. Their owners are probably fat. lol

I think thats the start of a slippery slope down to Orwells big brother where we all have to exercise in front of the TV every day or get punished.
Universal provision of health care is universal or its not, do you descriminate against people who injure themselves through stupidity? or against people who get pregnant "too" young, people who become HIV positive after unsafe sex etc. etc.
I'm healthy myself and have an Ideal BMI but I hate the idea of such an impractical predjudiced tax

Yes. Mostly Government should control the types of ingredients used in food products and control the way food companies advertise their products.

These days a moderate eater can end up hungry again quickly because the food they're eating is devoid of essential nutrients and full temporarily satisfying but unnecessary gunge - People get the calories without nutrition so their brains become hooked on junk food and they eat more because they鈥檙e still hungry.

Why not they tax everything else.

Maybe we should tax or sue the government that enabled it's own people to turn out this way. Increased workload for teachers lead to decrease in sports in schools. Allowed many fast food chains to open up everywhere because it meant more money was going into taxes. Reduced free or affordable sports facilities that reach out to the needy (not tennis courts that only affluent families can afford!) due to selling up land to property developers (more taxes). Lack of social considerations re policies and laws re prisoners, ex-offenders, phaedophiles, lack of (free) social clubs for old and young etc. People are afraid to go out because of the environment created. Everything costs money... and now it costs them back.

Healthy Nation? We need a healthy government who cares about it's people and invest NOW, not when the problem gets out of hand and costs more.

(Having said that, people need to take responsibilities for their own health and the choice of government, so we need to decide: who will we vote for next time with so few good choices.... That begs another question....)

Its not the fat we should tax but the fact is that healthy food is so god damned expensive.You can buy a large packet of biscuits or sweets for pennies yet healthy food costs so much.If healthy food was made more afforable then we might be able to live more healthily on lower incomes.Poor people find it easier to find a pound for a bag of potatoes or 50 pence for a loaf of bread that will make several meals than paying more for a bag of apples or oranges.My mom always said that as long as we had a bag of potatoes and a loaf of bread then we had a meal....sad i know but we were poor.If supermarkets reduced the cost of healthy food to the same level as junk food then people on low incomes would have a choice but it just doesnt seem to be the case as supermarkets are concerned more with profits than peoples health.If you are going to tax the fat then while you are at it,why not tax the smokers,the non exercisers,the drivers,the non working mums,the mentally retarded,the ill,the old,immigrants etc etc,for they all put strain on the NHS??????

To tax people merely because they are fat makes them pay a premium irrespective of their demands on the NHS. It also excludes those on benefits who would have the surcharge paid for them. A better idea is to withhold free treatment for self-inflicted conditions such as obesity and sexually contracted AIDS. Smokers are already heavily taxed so I would not force them to pay for treatment of heart and lung conditions.

The question as to where this 'serious money' should be invested into other shockingly underfunded areas is more an argument or discussion than a question so it shouldn't really be here. However the point that Obesity costs the government money is valid and true.

Health care for the obese is expensive and avoidable just like health care for most lung cancer patients and drunks who fill A&E's on a friday night.

These expenses are avoidable in that someone has made a decission to engage in an unhealthy activity and are now reaping the consequences.

The trick is to discourage people from engaging in an unhealthy life style in the first place. (this is by far the most sensible option)

An excise tax on unhealthy food (similar to those on cigarettes and alchohol) could provide both the dis-incentive to eat bad food and partially pay for the health care costs run up by those who still eat junk.

So in answer to your question:

Kinda, tax the food not the people, provide a disincentive to eat fatty food.

By your examples of alcohol and ciggarettes, we should tax processed foods or foods that contain high levels of fat, as well as what Zulu9 suggests, tax the fast food restaurants too.

Perhaps the tax could be used and offset in subsidies/vouchers for fresh produce for low income families.

Instead of taxing cigs, alcohol, food etc why not just make the things that make us ill illegal. The government complains about people being obese but lets the food manufacturers put unhealthy ingredients in our food.

It breaks my heart to see how accepted the prejudice against obese people is in today's modern societies. If there is a heaven there will be many surprised people when they learn just how wrong they were about this issue. You just don't know.

what about the drug addicts who are not taxed who go around robbing people to fund their habits thus costing money on policing and they get rehab think before you ask stupid questions you twat

historically we have always lived off the fat of the land! I love it when phrases change and have a modern day context to them!!

Yes. Anyone who, by their own gluttony, puts an extra burden on our already stretched NHS should be taxed to the hilt (and that includes smokers and drinkers and those with Munchausens) or - even more controversially - be forced to go private!!

Tax the advertisers that encourge people to become fat, or the suppermarketts of selling foods with bad fats in. Tax schools for giving people low self esteam or the rest of society for outcasting people who are not the norm.
This question has raised a good point, but dont pick on the victims of a societys problem.

拢1.00 for every kilo over weight.

Yes! And the handicapped, the mentally sick, the genetically impaired, the ethnically challenged. In fact World War II was a huge waste of human life and money. We should have just let Hitler rule the world.

Well being fat, I think I'm already taxed enough...I work full time paying tax...I have a home...pay council tax...I have a car..road and fuel tax...I buy food and clothing for my self and kids...taxed again!
I've only ever been in hospital twice (to give birth)...I don't see my doctor unless I am ordered to the surgery for the stuff women get asked to attend for.
I don't smoke or drink, everything I do, I pay for with my own money which I earn.
Why should I be taxed for being fat?
Should I be taxed on my colour?...ethnic origin?..if I was thin?...if I had mental health problems?..if I use a wheelchair?...if I had been born with a birth abnormality?...for my politics?...etc etc
Where does it all end?...I pay my National Insurance like every other worker, and as such I am entitled if I require it, to medical treatment for any condition that I may have, be that requiring a bandage on my fat knee...or for an heart transplant.
If the NHS is so shockingly underfunded, then maybe some of the fat cats of industry that create some of the health problems in society should be taxed more.