Should we tax fatty foods?

An article on bbc.co.uk this morning reports on a claim being made by researchers at Department of Public Health at Oxford University which states that 3,000 lives could be saved every year in the UK if VAT was added to fatty, sugary and salty foods.

They claim that by taxing these foods there would be less fatal heart attacks and strokes.

That’s good, right?

Well, in an idealistic world, yes I guess it is. But it raises the debate again on how much involvement the government should be playing in our day-to-day lives, particularly where health is concerned.

Should the government penalise unhealthy choices we make for ourselves? Is it not our responsibility to look after our own bodies?

I could see this being beneficial to the government as they GAIN money through increased tax AND healthier people (thus less pressure on the NHS) – whereas most other health focused initiatives would probably COST them money. But Tony Blair had already spoken against ‘fat tax’ in 2004 citing that it would be a step too far in the direction of a ‘nanny state’.

I personally feel that the time is still not right for this sort of guiding policy from the government. More should be done to educate I think, even at this stage of the obesity crisis. We are all responsible for ourselves and I still believe that increasing the tax on fatty foods would have little to no effect on their consumption. It would just mean people would pay more. If they couldn’t afford more – then it would open up a whole new market opportunity for food companies to provide even more budget (and therefore low quality) options for consumers.

What do you think? Could ‘fat tax’ work or should we just take more responsibility for ourselves?