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> Easiest solution to diabetes: Sugar tax. > > Easiest solution to climate change: Carbon tax. It sounds all good and well, until you realize it's essentially
by bArray 5y ago
> Easiest solution to diabetes: Sugar tax.
>
> Easiest solution to climate change: Carbon tax.
It sounds all good and well, until you realize it's essentially just a tax on the least wealthy people. Cheap food is typically high in sugar, so all you're doing is removing cheap food.
I offer the alternative of subsidizing healthy food, use the carrot and not the stick. Subsidizing healthy food also has the added bonus of supporting local farmers and manufacturing of food.
> If we havn't used these solutions, someone high up in the food chain is placing a greater emphasis on profits from the status quo instead of the wellbeing of the population.
I think the fundamental assumption here is a lack of agency of the individual. The answer isn't to 'tax the plebs until they do what we want' - we need to understand exactly why people are making the decisions they do.
I have some theories of my own about this, but it's an actively ongoing investigation. I spoke to a friend in Biology just the other day, and they had a completely different perspective from their field about why people are becoming more obese.
- prostoalex 5y ago> It sounds all good and well, until you realize it's essentially just a tax on the least wealthy people. You could in theory offset that by changing the mix of products qualified for SNAP program. 20% of food stamp money is spent on sugary stuff https://fns-prod.azureedge.net/sites/default/files/ops/SNAPFoodsTypicallyPurchased-Summary.pdf https://fns-prod.azureedge.net/sites/default/files/ops/SNAPF...
- bArray 5y ago> 20% of food stamp money is spent on sugary stuff I think the idea of a government dictating what you get to eat is still insane. How long till some politician gets paid off to pass some specific food? Such power should always be setup under the assumption that a bad actor will eventually corrupt it. And then of course you get the blind thinking "the government put it on the healthy list, so it must be healthy"... The better solution (in my opinion) is to educate people - to the point where they choose to make the right choices. Diet and exercise is just as important as Math and English when teaching kids to be productive members of the work force. This will massively pay off in the long run, as such habits usually get passed down for generations.