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0 pointsnxc185y ago0 comments

It doesn't need to be extreme, taxes are proven to be effective and are quite simple. They solve the problem of unhealthy food being too easily available by raising the price to reflect the true cost to society (the externalities, like obesity). Junk food is only cheaper than healthy food because our society has made that choice, and it can just as easily choose to change that.

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JamesBarney5y ago

That's great news though I'm a little suspicious, where have taxes caused a significant change in body weight?

> Junk food is only cheaper than healthy food because our society has made that choice, and it can just as easily choose to change that.

Junk food is cheaper because it's easier to make junk food. If you want to make food more palatable cheaply, make it denser, fattier, and sweeter. i.e. turn it into junk food.

take_a_breath5y ago

Look into the government’s subsidies of corn. We have decided, as a country, to incentivize growing corn. From here, it’s not hard to understand why high fructose corn syrup is in almost everything packaged in the US.

tom_mellior5y ago

> That's great news though I'm a little suspicious, where have taxes caused a significant change in body weight?

You could check https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugary_drink_tax as a starting point. From a skim it doesn't look to me like a small tax is some kind of miracle cure for anything in this regard. Though I don't think anyone claimed that it would be the one factor that fixes everything. There is no one factor, and having the tax as part of a toolbox seems reasonable.

tayo425y ago

> Junk food is only cheaper than healthy food because our society has made that choice

I don't this is really true? Candy is expensive. Chicken thighs, certain cuts of pork are affordable. Along with rice and filling sides like beans. You can eat well and cheap.

It might only be cheap if you're talking about time too?

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