Forum Topic

Should we follow Denmark and have a Fat Tax?

Philippa Bond ● 5786d13 Comments

I take it you're not fat

Jeremy Thorpe-Woods ● 5786d

How high a tax and for how fat and who decides?Might be the incentive I so badly need.

Sara Nathan ● 5786d

Thin is something I am not.  Apparently we are the fattest country in Europe.  Would a tax on junk food help us to have a healthier diet?http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1328617/Fat-tax-best-way-cut-obesity-Treat-junk-food-like-cigarettes.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Philippa Bond ● 5786d

Woulden't get much tax out of skinny Minny here !No junk food eaten here though.....home cooked food every day. My domestic science teacher taught me well, as did my dear Mother. A skill i have tried ( and i think successfully) to pass on to my children....son included.

Ellie Rose ● 5786d

Come on, what are we, a bunch of nazis? If fat people want to laze about, eat the wrong foods and suffer all kinds of health problems in the long run, it's down to them.

David Wright ● 5786d

It's a tax on junk food, not on fat people.See how easy it is to start rumours.

Ian M Green ● 5786d

Surely, a tax on fat people might lead to attacks from fat people?  Chiswick forum user captured launching Spam attack.

Fred Bray ● 5786d

Chiswick forum user captured launching Spam attack.

Fred Bray ● 5786d

umm I'm all for a tax on junk food but don't think it will hit the fat people!My colleagues 2 particular women get McDonalds several times a week and are skinny not just slim/slender/normal weight but skinny verging on underweight.  I on the other hand sit hear,  as I write,  eating my home made granary bread sandwich of houmous and chicken,  followed by 2 satsumas,  went to the gym last night and will go for a swim tonight,  do 40 mins brisk walking each working day to/from station.  I am overweight where is the justice, eh!  You will probably say my homemade sandwich is huge but it's  pre sliced bread,  2 slices made traditioal way.  And dinner tonight is chickpea veggie option recipe courtesy of Sara Nathan SOOOOO do not assume that just because someone is overweight they are lazy pigs.However,  I think it important to eat nutritionally sound food so putting up tax on junk,  nutritionally deficient, food is a good thing is it not?

Jen Morty ● 5785d

I'm so glad you liked that recipe - maybe I can persuade homecoming daughter to cook for Friday evening...thanks for reminding me!

Sara Nathan ● 5785d

http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/front_page/newsid_9184000/9184659.stmYes I think not learning how to cook simple healthy meals at school and at home has meant that our young men and women are at the mercy of anyone who can cook and so much more likely to live on junk food.

Philippa Bond ● 5785d

I find the assumption that everyone who is overweight lives on junk food irksome. I'm overweight but don't eat junk; I just eat too much 'healthy' food.

Susan Kelly ● 5784d

I have today been trying to find out what a young student friend likes to eat apart from pizzas and fish fingers and chips... so as to be able to suggest something different and easy to cook/put together that he will want to eat that isn't full of fat, cheese and salt.I agree it isn't just 'junk food' however that is defined - (and I bet there's an argument there) but eating too much and moving too little - and the last two together are also a problem.

Philippa Bond ● 5784d