5 ms·

Making food prohibitively expensive is not cool. Leave what other people eat alone. >:-|

K0nserv 6y ago
Another excellent use of the tax money from this could be subsidising non-meat foods which makes more food cheaper. Anecdotally my own experience switching to a diet with less meat is that food costs have gone down.
Pfhreak 6y ago
Red meat is a luxury item, isn't it? What the parent poster is suggesting is similar to a soda tax or cigarette tax.
- Number157 6y ago
  It's food and food should never be a luxury. Historically it has often been a luxury unfortunately.
  - xirbeosbwo1234 6y ago
    Housing is a necessity. Everyone has a right to housing by virtue of being human. No one has a right to a penthouse. Red meat is not a necessity any more than caviar or Scotch whisky. People eat meat because they like it, not because they need it.
  - Pfhreak 6y ago
    Are all food items necessities? I don't know, maybe? Are ice cream, trans fats, soda, candy, filet mignon, alcohol, etc. not luxuries? I empathize with the position that any tax on a food item will disproportionally impact the poor. And I agree, everyone should have a baseline level of housing and food accessible to them regardless of their circumstances. But if a food item has huge negative externalities, surely we should do something to limit its appeal and consumption, right?
xirbeosbwo1234 6y ago
Meat is a luxury. You do not by any stretch of the imagination need it.
Dirlewanger 6y ago
Yeah, this is what the environmentalists don't really get. Cheap meat available to the masses isn't going away. Pandora's Box has been opened, we have to deal with that. The only thing accomplished with making meat prohibitively expensive is pissing meat-eaters off (thus them resenting any environmental reforms even more), and most importantly, making it accessible only to the wealthy. It's fine to offer healthier alternatives, but don't expect to be moving mountains. Focus more money and effort on lab-grown meat.
- K0nserv 6y ago
  I think that if this was done slowly with a tax that increases year by year(like the Australian tabaco tax) and with some of the money being invested in lab grown meat reasearch we'd get to the lab grown meat future much faster. I suppose I should have been clearer on the fact that I didn't meant a jump to 7x the price over night. There are still health concerns around a diet heavy in red meats, but at least it would address the environmental issue.

Another excellent use of the tax money from this could be subsidising non-meat foods which makes more food cheaper. Anecdotally my own experience switching to a diet with less meat is that food costs have gone down.

Pfhreak 6y ago

Red meat is a luxury item, isn't it? What the parent poster is suggesting is similar to a soda tax or cigarette tax.

Number157 6y ago
It's food and food should never be a luxury. Historically it has often been a luxury unfortunately.
- xirbeosbwo1234 6y ago
  Housing is a necessity. Everyone has a right to housing by virtue of being human. No one has a right to a penthouse. Red meat is not a necessity any more than caviar or Scotch whisky. People eat meat because they like it, not because they need it.
- Pfhreak 6y ago
  Are all food items necessities? I don't know, maybe? Are ice cream, trans fats, soda, candy, filet mignon, alcohol, etc. not luxuries? I empathize with the position that any tax on a food item will disproportionally impact the poor. And I agree, everyone should have a baseline level of housing and food accessible to them regardless of their circumstances. But if a food item has huge negative externalities, surely we should do something to limit its appeal and consumption, right?

xirbeosbwo1234 6y ago

Meat is a luxury. You do not by any stretch of the imagination need it.

Dirlewanger 6y ago

Yeah, this is what the environmentalists don't really get. Cheap meat available to the masses isn't going away. Pandora's Box has been opened, we have to deal with that. The only thing accomplished with making meat prohibitively expensive is pissing meat-eaters off (thus them resenting any environmental reforms even more), and most importantly, making it accessible only to the wealthy. It's fine to offer healthier alternatives, but don't expect to be moving mountains. Focus more money and effort on lab-grown meat.

K0nserv 6y ago
I think that if this was done slowly with a tax that increases year by year(like the Australian tabaco tax) and with some of the money being invested in lab grown meat reasearch we'd get to the lab grown meat future much faster. I suppose I should have been clearer on the fact that I didn't meant a jump to 7x the price over night. There are still health concerns around a diet heavy in red meats, but at least it would address the environmental issue.