Fat tax
: British bureaucrats propose a fat tax, an extra levy on foods that are bad for you to try to deal with Britain’s obesity problem.
Hmmmm.
So when Atkins comes into favor, they start taxing carbs; when we find out he died obese, we they stop taxing them. They’ll tax butter and the French — and dairy farmers — will protest. Oh, yeah, this will be easy to administer.
But it does open up new potential to legislate behavior and cure deficits: Got a problem with gay marriage? Just charge them more for the license! Don’t want kids to watch too much TV? Tax ’em! Personally, I’d like to levy fines for bad grammar and open-mouthed gum chewing and passing on the right and spitting on the street. And while we’re at it, let’s tax the hell out of bigots and sexists. Yeah, they’re really onto something….
