Late last month, Economic Collapse News reported how the Ontario Medical Association (OMA) urged the province to institute a junk food tax and issue warning labels on these items. The purpose is to fight obesity in Ontario, which the OMA says is costing the taxpayers $2.5 billion per year.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) cited the food tax in Denmark and how it has failed misery. Not only has there been no evidence of any decrease in obesity cases or positive health effects, the economic ramifications have been severe. The junk food tax has led to job losses and consumers went to Germany to conduct its food shopping.
According to BBC News, the Danish government is starting to abolish the food tax. The Ministry of Tax in Denmark is planning to eliminate its tax on foods that contain more than 2.3 percent saturated fat. It is also scheduled to cancel its plans to introduce a tax on sugar.
Here are some excerpts from the article:
“The ministry said one of the effects of the fat tax was that some Danes had begun crossing the border into Germany to stock up on food there.
“According to the Danish National Health and Medicines Authority, 47% of Danes are overweight and 13% are obese.
“The tax was introduced in October 2011, in an attempt to limit the population’s intake of fatty foods.
“The measure added 16 kroner ($2.70; £1.50) per kg (2.2lb) of saturated fats in a product, increasing the price of a 250g pack of butter by 2.20 kroner.
“The decision to get rid of the tax was agreed as part of the centre-left minority government’s budget negotiations.
“Several supermarkets have reportedly said they will reduce their prices once the tax is abolished.”
Two years ago, an editorial in the British Medical Journal made headlines after the author suggested banning trans-fats. The United Kingdom Faculty of Public Health called for the consumption of trans-fats to be eradicated.
What should be interesting to note is that they use Denmark as an example as well as New York.
“In the BMJ article, doctors from Harvard Medical School backed this view and said bans in Denmark and New York City had effectively eliminated trans-fats, without reducing food availability, taste, or affordability.”
This type of thing certainly reminds me of Thomas Sowell’s “Intellectuals and Society.” The intellectuals in society like to think that they know what’s best for us and use preposterous examples, which they surmise we don’t have a clue what they’re talking about. The opposite of what they intended happens, but they are not held accountable whatsoever.
How about this? If you must find something to do with fatty foods then steal my taxes to generate an advertising campaign. However, please leave me alone with my doughnuts, onion rings and cheesecakes.
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