Back in January we brought you a story about a UK Government think tank proposing a “fat tax” on certain foods which are deemed to be unhealthy. Well, you guessed it, the fat tax is back on the agenda and this time it has been splashed all over the media.
The proposal has come from Dr Oliver Mytton who works at the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham. Dr Mytton and his colleagues are proposing that the tax is applied to foods high in fat, salt and sugar in order to discourage people from purchasing these types of foods, hopefully diverting their spend to more nutritious foods instead.
The tax being proposed would work out at 67p a week, raising approximately £2 billion per annum. The research suggested that around 3,000 lives a year would be saved from reduced numbers suffering from obesity related illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease.
I have to say, anything that saves lives is undoubtedly welcome but I am not sure how they work out their figures. At 67p a week, it is a bit unlikely that this will be sufficient in order to divert spending from unhealthy to healthy foods. Also, for someone on a low income for whom the odd pound here or there does have an impact, is it not more likely that they might forego the odd bit of healthy fruit and vegetables in order to be able to buy a bar of chocolate or a Kentucky fried chicken? At the end of the day, people are going to eat what they like unless the price differential was so enormous as to make it worthwhile switching to more healthy alternatives.