Should there be an obesity tax?

Relax brah

Overweight people consume more and are more unhealthy requiring greater medical resources - we seen this during covid with death rates correlating to overweight individuals.

An obesity tax should be considered or their health premium should at least be 3/4x higher

Discuss

893bet

An increased tax on unhealthy foods should be considered but only if there is a way that “healthy” fresh food can be made cheaper.

Relax brah

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119702361#Comment_119702361

Valid point and definitely a more sustainable course of action without fat shaming.

gormdubhgorm

Fat chance!

xxxxxxl

we have a sugar tax and a booze tax already.

dmc17

No, I can't afford another tax on top of the increase in food prices

Montage of Feck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119702361#Comment_119702361

Just did a quick check on the Tesco website and found the following: Spuds €0.80/Kg, oats €2.00/kg, milk €1.09/l, pasta €1.09/kg, onions €0.36/kg and a tin of tomatoes €0.35. Real food is literally cheaper than chips.

dotsman

Why leave it at obese people (who only may get sick)? Why not just cut to the chase and tax sick people directly? And old people? And disabled people?

And don't forget poor people! They consume a load of resources without contributing.

NIMAN

From looking around at the general population, it would easily bring in more than corporation tax!

Maybe we should keep it in reserve for when all the big US multi nationals up and leave?

standardg60

I've long had a problem with community rating in regards to health insurance.

In all other facets of life, insurance is based on potential risk, i don't see health insurance as anything other than a state sanctioned ponzi scheme, encourage people at the bottom to sponsor those at the top.

AllForIt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119702439#Comment_119702439

Yes it's a total myth that to be healthy you have to spend more. In fact you can spend less in combination with the fact you will eat less because unhealthy food leads one to eat too much.

Relax brah

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119702458#Comment_119702458

The chances of becoming sick are much higher if you are obese. Similar to cigarette smokers - look at the price of a box of smokes now?

Being overweight is not a medical condition people choose to abuse their bodies in that manner

Relax brah

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119702464#Comment_119702464

Well it’s getting worse because junk food is cheap and easily available - its a vicious cycle

elperello

Read my lips, no new taxes.

global23214124

I don't think that makes sense to do that. I'd say plenty of people are over eating to deal with other issues they have so it would be weird to tax. Put tax on the cheap high calorie stuff like potato chips.

Lock people in their homes for nearly 2 years, close gyms, don't allow people past their 5km zone and people wonder why so many have put on weight. Not to mention the mental damage..

Chiparus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058266043/should-there-be-an-obesity-tax

Underweight people are more unhealthy requiring greater medical resources, ..................... a underweight tax needs to be considered.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity_paradox

One eyed Jack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058266043/should-there-be-an-obesity-tax

The amount of tax anyone pays isn’t based on their physical characteristics. It would be an administrative nightmare in any case which would cost more to administer than it would generate in revenue -

Respondents were asked their weight and height from which a Body Mass Index (BMI) was then calculated. Based on this, respondents reported that over half of them (56%) were overweight or obese (with over a quarter, 26%, registering as obese alone).

Males (61%) are more likely to be overweight or obese than females (49%), and older people are generally more likely to be overweight than younger people. The age group 65-74 years report that two-thirds (66%) of them are overweight or obese, over twice the levels for persons aged 15-24 years (31%). 

While all classes of affluence / disadvantage indicate that around 55% of those groups report as being overweight or obese, the Very disadvantaged group report the highest levels of being overweight or obese at 58% of that group.

https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-syi/statisticalyearbookofireland2021part1/soc/health/

Insurance premiums are a different story entirely, entirely at the behest of insurance providers.

Relax brah

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119702535#Comment_119702535

A lot of people turn to drugs for the same. They get arrested or fined - why should it be any different?

beachhead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058266043/should-there-be-an-obesity-tax

Isn't there a sugar content tax here on soft drinks? Already a tax on alcohol-doesnt it make you fat? Maybe tax on smoking should be higher as when you stop smoking you eat more.The obesity tax would be a start,it could be expanded to ugly people,short etc etc etc

global23214124

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119702580#Comment_119702580

I think the arrests for drug use in the serious cases aren't going to help in most cases either. They'll just be and out if you are addicted. That should be treated as a mental health issue as well as severe obesity.

gary550

Alcohol abuse and subsequent economic cost far outweighs (ha ah pun there) the overall cost of obesity. Same with smoking.

We tax smokers, really quite significantly. Currently there is estimated to be over 700k smokers in Ireland who smoke daily. That number is reducing all the time but still will be many many years before that number is reduced to any significantly meaningful level. It would probably require all of the current generation of puffers to die.

The difference between smoking and eating is only one is essential!

If you look at how our diet has changed in the last 50 years it's drastic. Everyone talks about sugar but nobody talks about how we are consuming an abhorrent amount of vegetable and seed oils now. You go to a supermarket and buy and chicken and it's loaded with omega 6 which has been linked to weight gain, you buy vegetables that are probably loaded with endocrine disruptors associated with the process of commercial cultivation and all the chemicals that come with it. You buy butter and it's over 50% seed and vegetable oils - what's the need for it other than companies trying to flog **** food.

Why don't we tax the people & companies who produce **** food?

Why stop at the fatties? By your logic let's tax the cripples, the mentally handicap and people with low IQ - all will require additional resource's at some point let's beat the curve!!

Kurooi

Obese people consume more, so they should pay more - well that happens already. The more you consume the more you pay if it takes someone double the food to satisfy then they must buy double the food.

Health insurance- if private then again this already happens. They ask weight, height, calc bmi. It hits premiums.

If public health, I'd have two points , 1. have you ever used it? I did only once in my life and had to wait half a year for a stupid scan. Don't bother and don't charge people extra for this level of 'service' 2. There would be better predictors than weight. Mostly age. I bet there is a much stronger correlation of usage of public health service and age than same with weight. Now, I wouldn't go after them. Would you?

Jim2007

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058266043/should-there-be-an-obesity-tax

Sure, along ones for all the other preventable causes of illness - drinking, speeding, sports and so on. How about stacking against the old as well as they must account for a big slice of the expense. Once you open that gate there is no end to the opportunities for cost cutting including your own favorite activities.

Strumms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058266043/should-there-be-an-obesity-tax

And how does the state go about proving that a person is obese or otherwise so they can be taxed ? Obesity is a medical condition that can only be diagnosed by a doctor.

5.12 million is our population approximately… 5.12 GP visits, just to check for obesity, all the paperwork, admin, doesn’t sound like it wyou be good value.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119702670#Comment_119702670

People don't choose to get old. They do choose to be obese.

DarkJager21

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058266043/should-there-be-an-obesity-tax

How about a "mind your own **** business tax" where everytime some harmless **** decides to voice an opinion on someone else's life, they get fined 10k.

Unless you are walking in to the hospital and paying the bills out of your own pocket for them, shut the **** up. Millions upon millions pissed up a wall daily here and you worried about taxpayers using a taxpayer funded system...

Pissy Missy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119702513#Comment_119702513

Being skinny doesn't necessarily mean one is making healthy life style choices either

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119702458#Comment_119702458

A leap. Lifestyle versus something someone can't help.

And there's no "may" about it. I don't know if what the OP proposes is the answer, but dishonest comparison.

Atlantic Dawn

I believe planes should have pre-departure cages to see if you fit in to a seat, if you don't you should pay double with the balance going to those having to sit next to you.

EOQRTL

The world is over populated as is OP so no leave them to it.

Potential-Monke

There's a strong independent woman called Lizzo who would like a word with ya!

Relax brah

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119702867#Comment_119702867

Or under populated depending on the study you reference

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119702490#Comment_119702490

Unfortunately, community rating does make sense. Culture at a local level has a huge impact on how people live and how they die. Rates of things like obesity and smoking can be predicted by socio-economic status. Likewise healthy behaviours like healthy diet and exercise.

One of my lectures was involved in research where they gave people in a disadvantaged area, weekly delivery of fruit and veg. I think they wanted to see how availability of those foods affected consumption. They did follow up interviews and were shocked to find the participants say things to the effect of 'that's posh people food', and 'people like us don't eat that kind of food'.

Local culture matters.

Leg End Reject

Community rating for health insurance is just based on your age when you first take out insurance. If over 35 you pay more, and the difference increases if you're older.

It does not factor in socio-economic background, ethnicity or BMI. Where do people get this nonsense from? Link won't embed.

https://help.irishlifehealth.ie/hc/en-us/articles/115005819089-What-is-Lifetime-Community-Rating-LCR-

prunudo

There shouldn't be any increase tax, what they should clamp down on is the deals the supermarkets offer. While people should take personal responsibility, the supermarket chains don't help, packs of soft drinks for next to nothing, slabs of coke and fanta at the till or boxes of sweets being marketed as impulse buying. Sugar and junk food is addictive and the people laying out the stores know this.

Akrasia

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119702594#Comment_119702594

There is a sugar tax but go into any shop and the sugar free drinks cost the exact same as the sugary drinks

Same with alcohol free beers and wines,

There should be a tax on price gouging

triddles

Are heroin addicts not skinny? That seems like a reasonable unhealthy lifestyle.

Stone Deaf 4evr

Just regarding the frequent comments about Obese people consuming more. 'Im not sure I agree with that. A lot of this is simply down to food poverty, and its a generational thing which isn't helped by the need to have two parents working to maintain a household.

For example, even the most basic vegetable shop, is going to set you back close to a tenner for a bag of spuds, carrots, onions, what have you.

however, you can buy a meat feast or pepperoni pizza in Aldi for less than €1.20 each. Thats a calorie intake of approximately 1200 per pizza for almost zero cost, zero prep time for busy families. And if this is what kids are fed on the regular, this is what they learn food is all about.

There is no easy way to tackle it, excess taxes on these foods simply makes life harder for those on the razors edge of affording to live, yet as a society, we face the bill at a later date in terms of strain on the health system.

magicbastarder

teach cooking in school. mandatory till the junior cert.

Addmagnet

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119702439#Comment_119702439

But 'real' food is getting harder to find.

The food industry is only interested in selling the general public 'value-added' foods, i.e., foods that have had some kind of processing done to them. This means that there are more middlemen and more chances to charge more. Take the Tesco spuds example above, I'll bet the spuds are washed.

It's getting more difficult for me to source ingredients that I've used all my life. Meat is one example, haven't seen sweetbreads, pig's trotters, ox heart etc. for years, unless I go to the English Market here in Cork, and even then I often have to ask the butcher to get it in for me. Other ingredients are being whittled away and may still be available, but there's only one choice of brand; semolina, custard powder, skimmed milk powder. Of course, the supermarkets will tell you "there's no call for it" and I don't disbelieve them.

There has to be a reason to choose a healthier food over a highly processed, high in sugar/fat/salt food. It takes the same length of time to prepare and cook a breast of chicken as it does to cook some "chopped and formed" or "mechanically recovered meat" chicken nuggets.

Cost could be used as a carrot or stick to help people make better choices. Education would be better, but requires far more effort both individually and within society as a whole.

rolling boh

Places like garages now have you queuing surrounded by sweets and treats and most deli counters are similar to a chipper at this stage. I know people have a choice but far too many deals involve nothing more than junk food are out there .The number of special offers for healthier options is small in comparison to the treat stuff .

Teacher2020

Why are people so interested in what other people are doing with their lives? Just live and let live and get on with it. Some very bitter people in here, attacking obese people for the fun of it. As if obese people choose to be obese. Quite often there are other factors at play here. Mental health, binge eating disorder, lack of education etc. I don't personally know a single obese person that is happy with their situation.

maccored

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058266043/should-there-be-an-obesity-tax

we may as well go on for a Stupidity Tax, I Dont Like The Look Of That Lad Tax etc etc

An obesity tax wouldn't cut it. You'd need to go further, like mobile stomach-stapling clinics.

Concerned family members could turn up with their fatty in tow to get them fixed. Much like you can do with a dog or a cat.

Time poverty also plays into peoples diets, if your out of the house for 12 hours a day the temptation is always there to grab something quick when you get home which is often not too healthy an option. We have so little time at home due to work commitments that we have to batch cook at the weekends so we are not cooking for an hour every evening. Companies should be taxed heavily for every hour over the standard working week they may employees work as they are contributing to the issue. It might encourage them to hire more instead of trying to squeeze more out of their existing workers. I also agree that unhealthy foods should be made more expensive with taxation if its costing us more in the long run, but these extra taxes should be ringfenced for tackling this obesity and not just put in the general pot like other taxes which get squandered.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058266043/should-there-be-an-obesity-tax

It depends on whether there's any evidence that an obesity tax works?

There are plenty of cheap foods that can make you fat, even if you exclude the typical foods we think of.

Second, even when alcohol price rises, does that stop alcoholics or people who will buy it regardless?

If there's any evidence to suggest that it works, then fine. Otherwise, there's not much point implementing it.

Perhaps we should focus more on education and promoting exercise rather than taxes.

After all, there are many so-called TOFIs (thin on the outside, fat on the inside) that may not carry excess external fat but who are at a high risk of heart attacks and strokes due to internal fat / arteries laced with fats. It's not always visually fat people who are at this high risk.

Sunny Disposition

Was walking through a shopping centre the other day and if you look closely at a crowd these days there are loads of obese people. It's amazing how fat the country got over the last 30 years, being average weight makes you thin nowadays. There has been some awareness of this over the last ten years, but things don't seem to be improving.

Obviously there can't be an obesity tax, but there needs to be some new tactics to get people to face up to the issue. I don't know the answer, but it does seem like there have been efforts over the last few years, but no real success.

I wonder is the decline in smoking part of the reason for an increase in obesity.

magicbastarder

possibly a decline in smoking, but people walk and cycle far less than they used to.

i think the number of cars in the country went up by 150% in the same period that the population climbed by 60%.

silverharp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119703856#Comment_119703856

its 90% a food problem, people in reality lose weight so they can exercise , it doesnt really work the other way.

Hermy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119702694#Comment_119702694

Wouldn't that be a nice world to live in where one could simply choose not to be obese.