Do we need a 'sugar tax?'

[purbeast0]

The tax won't hurt you in moderation.

fat tax wuold hurt less than sugar tax.

 

[bobdole369]

While HFCS is like a intravenous injection of sugar, the real problem is our countries attitude towards carbs. See its perfectly OK for something to have 80+ carbs and over a thousand calories, but be called "low - fat" and healthy. However you are much better off eating something that has 20g of fat and 30 carbs for those same calories. The trouble is that carbs do not signal your brain that you are full - so you'll keep eating, while if you ingest fat, your body will respond and you won't keep chowing. Ever notice how much pasta you can eat? But there is an upper limit on the amount of steak?

 

[highland145]

While HFCS is like a intravenous injection of sugar, the real problem is our countries attitude towards carbs. See its perfectly OK for something to have 80+ carbs and over a thousand calories, but be called "low - fat" and healthy. However you are much better off eating something that has 20g of fat and 30 carbs for those same calories. The trouble is that carbs do not signal your brain that you are full - so you'll keep eating, while if you ingest fat, your body will respond and you won't keep chowing. Ever notice how much pasta you can eat? But there is an upper limit on the amount of steak?

Um, nope.



kidding

 

[Tsaico]

Just stop subsidizing agribusiness, so the price of HFCS will go up.

I agree with this wholeheartedly. It strikes me as so strange how on one hand we keep saying how the free markets are the most American thing there is, but then on the other, dish out a system that keeps prices artificially low.

Taxing the sugar to me is the same as a luxury tax, and personally I have no problem with it. It should be applied only to grocers/manufactured foods though. I would hate to see a mom and pop bakery have to raise their prices because they sell cakes that have sugar in them.

 

[janas19]

I for one am in favor of a sugar tax. Let's bring back the colonial period.

 

[Phoenix86]

Go for it. I rarely eat this shit so I'm all for it.

What if it was <insert your favorite food/drink/activity>?

Do you really think this is anything more than a feel good legislation money grab?

 

[IceBergSLiM]

I think states and towns should be able to tax whatever their residents want to tax.

 

[Vic Vega]

I think states and towns should be able to tax whatever their residents want to tax.

As long as local and state law allows for it and the tax is passed by popular vote, I agree 100%.

 

[preslove]

What if it was <insert your favorite food/drink/activity>?

Do you really think this is anything more than a feel good legislation money grab?

This is not a money grab. Sugar consumption is causing type 2 diabetes and MANY more illnesses. Diabetes is the most expensive illness to treat, and the idiots who are eating themselves into diabetes don't pay the full cost of their treatment. So, it's left to tax payers and healthy insurance premium payers to pay for their stupidity.

I drink tea because it improves health instead of radically degrading it. I shouldn't have to pay for the stupid decisions made by sugar guzzlers. Tax sugar and put that money towards treating diabetes and anti sugar ad campaigns. The higher prices will also push down consumption.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

This is not a money grab. Sugar consumption is causing type 2 diabetes and MANY more illnesses. Diabetes is the most expensive illness to treat, and the idiots who are eating themselves into diabetes don't pay the full cost of their treatment. So, it's left to tax payers and healthy insurance premium payers to pay for their stupidity.

I drink tea because it improves health instead of radically degrading it. I shouldn't have to pay for the stupid decisions made by sugar guzzlers. Tax sugar and put that money towards treating diabetes and anti sugar ad campaigns. The higher prices will also push down consumption.

Well then we should start communicating this from a young age. Instead of promoting a food pyramid or food plate that's full of sugar maybe they should start telling the truth?

IMO the feds created this problem by subsidizing corn and telling people they should eat 10 servings of carbs(sugar) per day. Now they want us to pay to clean up the mess. GTFO is what I say.

 

[ElFenix]

stop subsidizing all the shitty food first.

second, fatties drink diet. it's not the coke, it's the fries.

(well, it is the coke because normal people's metabolism rises when sweet things are eaten, but fatties have trained their bodies with diet that sweet stuff doesn't have calories, but that's not sugar's fault)

 

[CountZero]

Well then we should start communicating this from a young age. Instead of promoting a food pyramid or food plate that's full of sugar maybe they should start telling the truth?

IMO the feds created this problem by subsidizing corn and telling people they should eat 10 servings of carbs(sugar) per day. Now they want us to pay to clean up the mess. GTFO is what I say.

That is true to an extent. Carbs are bad is relatively new. For years it was fat that was bad, then sodium, cholesterol etc. By the time they said that you shouldn't eat white bread and pasta people have tuned out. They've spent so long waffling on what is and isn't good people just don't care. Its a damned if you do damned if you don't. The problem is moderation more than just what it is. We are a society that celebrates stupidity and excess but also complains about the consequences.

 

[manimal]

Lets tax fries. Would america starve if fries were illegal?

 

[Scotteq]

(1) Our roads are in poor repair

(2) Excercise is also a key component of good health; and has proven positive effects on Diabetes.

(3) Public scrutiny is also a proven method to modify behavior.

(4) Obesity is a health risk, and also a key indicator that said individuals are consuming far more resource than should be allocated.


Therefore


Solution: Put fat people in day glow orange suits and put them on chain gangs performing community service repairing our country's infrastructure. Then confiscate their earnings, savings, and all property/title so these scum may no longer have the means to stuff their hideous, misshapen maws with coissants and Haagen Dazs.

 

[manimal]

(1) Our roads are in poor repair

(2) Excercise is also a key component of good health; and has proven positive effects on Diabetes.

(3) Public scrutiny is also a proven method to modify behavior.

(4) Obesity is a health risk, and also a key indicator that said individuals are consuming far more resource than should be allocated.


Therefore


Solution: Put fat people in day glow orange suits and put them on chain gangs performing community service repairing our country's infrastructure. Then confiscate their earnings, savings, and all property/title so these scum may no longer have the means to stuff their hideous, misshapen maws with coissants and Haagen Dazs.

How did star trek stop obesity?

 

[IceBergSLiM]

Lets tax fries. Would america starve if fries were illegal?

no need in harming the potato industry. Just end the subsidies on corn and don't give tax breaks to "junk food" companies.

 

[Scotteq]

How did star trek stop obesity?

Nuked it from orbit. Only way to be sure.

 

[Kantastic]

Hell no. Let Darwin sort through the population after treating type 2 diabetes becomes a 100% personal expense.

Where does the money for treatment come from? Have you seen the demographics of patients with diabetes? They don't pay for their health insurance, you do (under the premise that you, like all ATOT members, make 100K+ a year).

 

[SlitheryDee]

No. We don't need any new taxes and we don't need the government influencing our lives any more than it already is.

 

[highland145]

Where does the money for treatment come from? Have you seen the demographics of patients with diabetes? They don't pay for their health insurance, you do (under the premise that you, like all ATOT members, make 100K+ a year).

Exactly. No sugar tax and make them, type 2 diabetics, pay for their own treatment, 100%. They will reform, pay, or die.

 

[IAteYourMother]

How about we reduce corn subsidies? HFCS drink costs go up, taxes go down.

 

[Phoenix86]

Sugar consumption is causing type 2 diabetes and MANY more illnesses.

There are thousands of activities that have negative effects and this logic is fail.

Driving causes thousands of deaths a year, MANY critical injuries, and that's not even considering environmental impact.

Does moderate to low sugar consumption cause type 2 diabetes?

I'm not even taking this logic to extremes here.

 

[ichy]

Exactly. No sugar tax and make them, type 2 diabetics, pay for their own treatment, 100%. They will reform, pay, or die.

Sure the diabetes epidemic in this country is cause by shitty lifestyles but some people are screwed by genetics and develop it despite not being sedentary gluttons.

 

[bobdole369]

Sugar consumption is causing type 2 diabetes and MANY more illnesses.

Make sure you lump in any "refined high-starch" product. These carbs deliver FAR more of a sugar shock once your body gets moving on digesting them than any soda. Pasta, White bread, white rice, french fries, etc are all very bad for you to eat them every single day. Unless that is its all you eat in a fairly responsible manner. Noting the Chinese eat rice + something else with their rice regularly and don't have nearly the obesity problem. It's the "processed" nature of a lot of these high-carb foods that is the problem. Add to the fact that American's think fat is a bad word, and that eating a lot of fat, makes you fat (which is ridiculous, sort of the same lines that eating cholesterol doesn't directly increase your cholesterol).

 

[highland145]

Sure the diabetes epidemic in this country is cause by shitty lifestyles but some people are screwed by genetics and develop it despite not being sedentary gluttons.

True. So add a % body fat/cardio health fitness component.

Wonder what % of type 2 could be treated with diet/exercise?

http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/25/10/1722.full

The majority of individuals with type 2 diabetes were overweight, did not engage in recommended levels of physical activity, and did not follow dietary guidelines for fat and fruit and vegetable consumption. Additional measures are needed to encourage regular physical activity and improve dietary habits in this population.