A Sugar Tax - Discuss.

[landyvlad]

I am ABSOLUTELY against Taxation as a way of solving ANY 'problem'.

1. The funds are rarely diverted, at least in full, to where politicians claim they will be.
(example: Speeding fines were supposedly to go into improving roads. In fact a lot of that money gets spent on more speed cameras.... and the rest goes into consolidated revenue)

2. The tax never solves the problem, and sometimes makes it worse.
(example: KRudd's "alcopops" tax. Supposedly would reduce drinking of spirits by young people. In fact many now just buy bottles of (straight) spirits and 'pre-load' before heading out on the topwn. Some studies indicate that they drink MORE actual alcohol now than they did previously)

3. Taxes almost always affect the responsible consumer (I used to drink Bundy and Coke cans - occasionally. I am not a drunk or socially irresponsible. Yet suddenly I am forced to pay more! Why? It's certainly punishing me for something I am not doing.


as MarkL points out:

Yep, and with the cigs continuing to be more expensive due to huge taxes I think we are now hurting the lifestyle of addicts (it's legal) and the less well off (they have more time to waste and have the highest smoking rates now/always).
It's about time there was an aggressive campaign of trying to help the last people smoking to give up. Keep hearing smoking's bad, gunna keep increasing taxes. Don't here much about smoking's bad, here's how we can help you give up.

Nailed it! If the government was GENUINE about stopping these addictions they would be ACTIVELY HELPING people to do so. (Say FREE stop smoking medications / personal support as long as required). It's a good investment if smokers are the drain on the health system that governments claim to be the case.
The same logic could be applied to obesity.

We are all being scammed, yet we sit back and let it happen.






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The other thing I would really love to see is a litter tax placed on takeaway food places like MacDonalds, Hungry Jacks, KFC and the likes as there is so much takeaway packaging just thrown out the windows of cars. We live in a rural area and see MacDonald wrappings along the roadside drains and the nearest takeaway food shop is in town miles from us

This wouldn't work. Again everyone would be paying it, not just the litterers.
And given they were paying the tax, the litterers' logic would be that they were now entitled to litter!

[Cricket]

I am ABSOLUTELY against Taxation as a way of solving ANY 'problem'.


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This wouldn't work. Again everyone would be paying it, not just the litterers.
And given they were paying the tax, the litterers' logic would be that they were now entitled to litter!

You misunderstand me I think. MacDonalds, Hungry Jacks and Kfc etc should pay the litter tax and if they feel the need to add that cost to their take away then so be it.

[mpb]

You misunderstand me I think. MacDonalds, Hungry Jacks and Kfc etc should pay the litter tax and if they feel the need to add that cost to their take away then so be it.

But its not Maccas, KFC, or HJ's that are doing the littering.
What? do you want to receive your chips served into your bare hands. No you want them in a container of some sort.

[Cricket]

But they are providing the product for which people use to litter placing the responsibility on usually council clean crews to clean up the mess left behind. take away is the scourge of our society in more ways than one.

[Mark L]

But its not Maccas, KFC, or HJ's that are doing the littering.
What? do you want to receive your chips served into your bare hands. No you want them in a container of some sort.

Yes I want the chips (do you want fries with that) in a container. And yes I'll pay extra so I can chuck the container out the window after I've eaten the fries with my bare hands.
Maybe the suppliers could create much more biodegradable packaging. While they don't do it I see their rubbish distributed by others in places that make me

[ricktas]

Good idea..sort of.

The issue is the amount of sugar in our diets. Will coca-cola reduce the amount of sugar in Coke just cause there is a tax on it? Will people cut down their teaspoon of sugar with their coffee just cause there is a tax on it?

Great news, the government has found a way to introduce a new tax, hidden under the guise of better health. When the reality is likely to be that people will still have the sugary things, and just accept paying the tax. Yay. the government has more money to waste on a study into how much sugar contributes to healthcare costs.

All the time, people keep using sugar and healthcare expenditure doesn't go down... but continues to cost more. So they up the Tax (like the ones on cigarettes and fuel). They up the sugar tax under the statement that more tax is to try and stop people using as much sugar. But still the healthcare costs increase year after year.

Is the sugar tax a good idea. Yes..if it does decrease the amount of sugar added to things, or makes people decrease the amount of sugar they use. But I reckon we will all just pay more tax, and nothing else will change. Problem solved, the government has more tax income..life is good!