Fat Tax

“Fat Tax” Imposing a fat tax on saturated fat, junk foods, sodas, etc. would be best because of many health and money related issues that it could possibly solve. A fat tax could help control many health problems the United States is facing today by giving some incentive to buy healthier foods. Taxing these certain foods may help control the way people eat and in turn change lifestyles to much healthier ones than there are now. The healthier lifestyles would help lower the amount of money spent on health care, in turn saving money. The tax, along with saving the United States money, would also produce large revenue helping to boost the economy and pull out of the debt crisis. Many other countries have begun taxing fatty foods and have produced very nice revenue because of the levies. The tax might pose some problems at first, but in the long run will prevail and produce great gains for the country. In order for a tax to work, it will have to be done correctly. A very organized operation, in which the correct fatty foods would be taxed in order to target certain items which create health problems, would be a start. The United States as a whole is becoming a very unhealthy society because of how Americans eat. Fast food restaurants are part of the main cause because of their affordability and accessibility. It is so easy for people to skip cooking healthy foods and just stop off at McDonalds to grab a quick burger. “The United States obesity rate has reached up to 34% according to the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention” (Salahi 1). A fat tax could possibly slow the consumption of these fatty foods and fast foods, which in turn would reduce the obesity numbers. Obesity is not all that these fatty foods are causing; there is also heart disease, diabetes, and many others, all of which come about because of behavior. Imposing a tax on the fatty foods that cause these diseases could change the behavior of the consumers (Vijayaraghavan 1). An