Tax junk food and booze to save lives

[rc_sam]

From the Australian.

A WORLD-FIRST study has called for the introduction of a 10 per cent tax on junk food.
As well, it called for increased alcohol and tobacco taxes and mandatory limits on salt levels in bread and cereal in a package that would cut costs and save thousands of lives.
The first comparative evaluation of 150 different preventive health measures has found a core group of 20 would save over $6 billion as well as lives.
A further list of 23 different measures would cost more, financially, but would bring health benefits for less than $10,000 per annum of extra life bought -- five times below the normal threshold for cost-effectiveness.
The authors of the five-year study, funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council, say the results provide solid evidence to back immediate introduction of some of the measures, including increasing the 25 per cent tobacco tax hike in the May budget to 30 per cent, and taxing alcohol at a rate 10 per cent higher than currently applies to spirits.



The study found current practice on heart treatments is wasteful, and millions could be saved by prescribing a "polypill" -- incorporating generic versions of three different blood-pressure-lowering drugs and a cholesterol-lowering drug in a single tablet -- costing $200 a year to patients who met a more accurate risk assessment.
The 20 most cost-effective measures would cost $4.6bn initially but save $11bn in later health costs, the Assessing Cost-Effectiveness in Prevention report said, with the cost savings peaking about 12 years after the measures' introduction.
These include widening access to gastric banding surgery for severely obese patients who have failed to lose weight by diet and exercise.
The study will be released in Melbourne today by its authors from Deakin University and the University of Queensland.

I actually think this would be a pretty good idea in theory. Not sure how they'd be able to impliment it properly.

[shmoo]

Where's your evidence to prove that increasing the price of things actually reduces the amount being consumed? Smoking? Alcopops? Come on, give me one decent example.

[D'Artagnan]

Sliding scale based on KJ/100g with a starting threshold of ~1500...Sounds fair to me but As Shmoo said, no evidence to say it will help.

A list containing the kj/100gms can be found here. It's surprising to see what foods are over 1500.

BTW: I'm no nutritionist. My surgeon gave me this basic guide. >500kj/100g= loosing; between 500-1000=maintaining;over 1000kj/100g = gaining. 35kgs lost so far, so he can't be too wrong?

[lit]

Fucking hippies. Where does that tax money go?

[D'Artagnan]

Probably into subsidised lipo?

[lee]

fuck off

[fulltimer]

booze is already taxed to the hilt but we might as well start taxing fat fucks, they should start having to subsidize their future hospital treatments just like smokers do.

[busa_bloke]

Banning toys from fast food and high sugar cereals would be an idea too. Reduce the (it is powerful) nagging of parents by kids to buy these rubbishy foods to get the latest Shrek or whatever.

Another good thing is financing (for those who have failed at traditional methods) lapband operations. The health benefits are significant and the investment will be saved many times over from reduced diabetes, heart disease and other obesity complications.

[ozzypatrol]

what a load of shit, if people want to do something they will!!!! no matter what, I'd love to fukn shoot every single expert escpecially the pricks saying we would be paying $2 for fuel. Fuck off and get real jobs gggrrrrrrr.......... No real evidence, its all based on what ifs

[busa_bloke]

Will you drive less if fuel is $2 a litre ozzy?

[Maxo]

save thousands of lives.

bullshit.

if they want to do this, they should use the tax to subsidise healthy foods, fresh foods costs more than fast food as it is

Or just subsidise healthy foods. That would be a start.

Money grubbing..

[mark00001]

if they want to do this, they should use the tax to subsidise healthy foods, fresh foods costs more than fast food as it is

[ozzypatrol]

Will you drive less if fuel is $2 a litre ozzy?

nope cos its not like i go driving for the hell of it unless i'm going for a 4b or a ride. Again where there's a will there's a way

[House]

Where's your evidence to prove that increasing the price of things actually reduces the amount being consumed? Smoking? Alcopops? Come on, give me one decent example.

This. (Though premixed "alcopops" is a bad example, as it's easy to publish a study showing reduced consumption of them if you're ignoring the corresponding increase in beer/wine/spirit consumption as a confounding factor)

Also, it would be sad to end up with US style stupidity, where farming of sugar rich crops (corn in the US, I suppose sugar cane in our case) is subsidised by the government using taxpayers money, making it cheaper as a food ingredient, and leading to more extensive use of it. On top of that, there is a push to tax energy dense foods to try and restrict their consumption, similar to what is being proposed here.

End result being that the government continues to have the support of the producers, taxpayers get shafted for two separate amounts of tax that have opposing effects, and the price of "junk food" doesn't change much from where it would be if the government wasn't interfering.

[steve.sh]

Well the benefit is that all that junk food will make u last long in bed... Apparently
m.news.com.au/MostPopularNews/fi578807.htm

[Arwon]

booze is already taxed to the hilt but we might as well start taxing fat fucks, they should start having to subsidize their future hospital treatments just like smokers do.

i like your thinking, then they could tax the fuck out of dickhead motorcycle riders because they are all bound to end up needing treatment .

who cares that some people pay a medicare levy 2-300% above what they will ever need in a fucking lifetime.

[fulltimer]

i like your thinking, then they could tax the fuck out of dickhead motorcycle riders because they are all bound to end up needing treatment .

who cares that some people pay a medicare levy 2-300% above what they will ever need in a fucking lifetime.

motorcyclists are involved in accidents. it is no accident that smokers or the obese will need treatment

[ozzypatrol]

i'm fit and healthy and rarely eat junk so why should I get taxed extra when I decide on getting macca's for dinner one night? I'd rather subway but if your held up or out the only food place you can normally find will be a macca's

[Taylor]

I'm very fit and healthy and don't ever feel a compulsion to visit MacDonald's. So if I choose to, I'd also be choosing to pay more for the (in)convenience.

What's the big deal? This isn't New York City, it's still cheaper to buy good food.

[Arwon]

motorcyclists are involved in accidents. it is no accident that smokers or the obese will need treatment

its a life choice with a higher than average motality rate. same fucken thing.