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NoFoodTax - Another BS group trying to fool the public

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Hacp said:
I eat lots of sugary things and I have an acceptable weight. Just because some people can't control themselves doesn't mean the government should tax me. What ever happened to personal responsibility?
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Don't kid yourself, even being skinny doesn't mean that a sugary diet is healthy for you. Shooting your blood sugar up and then having it crash is not healthy for anyone, no matter what your weight is.
 
waggy said:
i remember a thread years ago about taxing cigs more. people were wondering what was next. when a few said pop/juice/junk food people got on them saying no that wouldn't happen.

now? they are doing it and people are saying "its ok. long as it stays on junk food, high suger!" got news for you it is going to continue.
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Then they came for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up.
 
I fully support increasing taxes on unhealthy food to help offset increased Medicare and Medicaid costs caused by the poor eating habits of others.
 
The government is subsidizing the manufacture of high fructose corn syrup thru corn price supports.

Funny, how no one has brought that up?
 
Schadenfroh said:
I fully support increasing taxes on unhealthy food to help offset increased Medicare and Medicaid costs caused by the poor eating habits of others.
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Quite the gullible rube now aren't you? You have fallen for it hook, line, and sinker! It is all about control and they have you. The only reason health care costs are so high today is because the government has been involved for the last 40+ years. The health care bill they rammed through earlier this year is nothing more than a power grab. Once they have total control of the health care system they will be telling what you can and cannot do...and people like you will walk obediently to slaughter.
 
Ronstang said:
It is all about control and they have you.
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The reason our deficits are so high is that the the mainstream voter has not felt the impact of our spending since we continue to borrow without drastically increasing taxes to pay for ever expanding government "services."

Increased taxes that will impact the lifestyle of voters will cause the financial impact services put in place by politicians they elect to be felt.

Do you think as many people would be as pro-Medicaid as they are today if they had "lifestyle" changes placed on them by the government and their taxes increased to pay for it all?

Similarly, if taxes are allowed to rise for everyone (not just the people paying income taxes), then the population can finally feel the impact of the services from the government that they demanded in the past.

As such, we would likely see more and more people wanting less government services when they must change their lifestyles, finances, etc. in order to get them.
 
Regressive taxes like this make me happy. The poor need to be paying their fair share, and this is another perfect vehicle to insure this happens, along with high taxes on liquor, smokes, and gasoline.

I don't drink pop or buy Hostess crap, so this tax suits me just fine.

You go lefties!
 
Schadenfroh said:
The reason our deficits are so high is that the the mainstream voter has not felt the impact of our spending since we continue to borrow without drastically increasing taxes to pay for ever expanding government "services."

Increased taxes that will impact the lifestyle of voters will cause the financial impact services put in place by politicians they elect to be felt.

Do you think as many people would be as pro-Medicaid as they are today if they had "lifestyle" changes placed on them by the government and their taxes increased to pay for it all?

Similarly, if taxes are allowed to rise for everyone (not just the people paying income taxes), then the population can finally feel the impact of the services from the government that they demanded in the past.

As such, we would likely see more and more people wanting less government services when they must change their lifestyles, finances, etc. in order to get them.
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Increase taxes so the government can continue to waste the money? No way. We need to lower taxes for everyone. Then cut all the spending. Then lower taxes even more.
 
Ronstang said:
Quite the gullible rube now aren't you? You have fallen for it hook, line, and sinker! It is all about control and they have you. The only reason health care costs are so high today is because the government has been involved for the last 40+ years. The health care bill they rammed through earlier this year is nothing more than a power grab. Once they have total control of the health care system they will be telling what you can and cannot do...and people like you will walk obediently to slaughter.
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Really, you think it's the ONLY reason, for real? Our unhealthy sugar and processed carb loaded diets have nothing to do with it?
 
Ronstang said:
Quite the gullible rube now aren't you? You have fallen for it hook, line, and sinker! It is all about control and they have you. The only reason health care costs are so high today is because the government has been involved for the last 40+ years. The health care bill they rammed through earlier this year is nothing more than a power grab. Once they have total control of the health care system they will be telling what you can and cannot do...and people like you will walk obediently to slaughter.
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This is not true.

The entire healthcare system - public, private, whatever - is so fraught with inefficiency (primarily administrative/clerical) that the US spends up to 2x as much per person for healthcare than other countries - not counting the actual cost of the medical procedures themselves.

Of course gov't involvement makes the costs associated with healthcare even worse, but to solely blame the gov't plays right into the greedy hands of the healthcare industry.
 
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Hacp said:
I eat lots of sugary things and I have an acceptable weight. Just because some people can't control themselves doesn't mean the government should tax me. What ever happened to personal responsibility?
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Get back to us when you're still eating as you are at age 30.
 
PieIsAwesome said:
We should have 2 healthcare systems running in parallel. One for fatties, paid for by fatties, and one for everyone else.
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I really wish they would do something like this. If someone wants to make poor lifestyle choices, they should face the consequences.
 
Schadenfroh said:
As such, we would likely see more and more people wanting less government services when they must change their lifestyles, finances, etc. in order to get them.
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Who would decide what "lifestyle" activities must change? What would be their criteria for that decision?

I do agree that it's tough to cut deficit spending when over half of the populace feels no direct pain due to taxation yet get the full allowance of entitlement spending. But if you tax their ice cream and soda purchases in hopes to curtail their lifestyle, where do you go to get that incremental tax dollar that just went away because they finally decided to stop buying ice cream and soda?
 
Fingolfin269 said:
Who would decide what "lifestyle" activities must change? What would be their criteria for that decision?

I do agree that it's tough to cut deficit spending when over half of the populace feels no direct pain due to taxation yet get the full allowance of entitlement spending. But if you tax their ice cream and soda purchases in hopes to curtail their lifestyle, where do you go to get that incremental tax dollar that just went away because they finally decided to stop buying ice cream and soda?
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I think he meant that their lifestyle would change because they would be paying for it and have to cut stuff out in order to pay for the government that they "thought" they wanted. Once people start paying, the shoe is on the other foot.

I've said for years that people "don't feel the deficit". Sure, they pay taxes but they do not directly see or feel the effects of it. Raise their taxes to the level of removing the deficit and you'll see all hell break lose.
 
It will not change behaviors meaningfully, more it will simply be another way for government to get money. This was never about health, always about a new way to get money. If you don't believe me please indicate how every dollar from revenue for this will be sunk back into health-initiatives. It won't be.
 
frostedflakes said:
Don't kid yourself, taxes probably aren't going to significantly curtail people's eating habits. Look at how many still smoke despite the ridiculous taxes on cigarettes. Public awareness campaigns have done far, far more to curtail smoking IMO, smoking is so unhip and uncool among today's youth thanks to programs like DARE and Above the Influence, it's really pretty amazing to me how much public opinion has changed on it just in the last couple decades.

Taxes on soda are a great way for the government to bring in some money, though. That's really all this is about.

Also, how does this work for diet soda? You'd think it wouldn't be taxed as well, but I thought when I've read about these taxes before, sodas without sugar would fall under it as well, which is utter BS.

Also, this is probably going to turn into a shitstorm and be moved to P&N within the next hour.
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Uh, I quit smoking because of the new cigarette tax. No lie.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-08-09-1Alede_N.htm

That said, I don't really like the idea of taxing "unhealthy" commodities in general, with cigarettes the exception. I support labelling requirements so that people know what shit they are putting in their bodies. That is all.

- wolf
 
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