Taxing fat people

[Pendejo]

I'm all for it, as long as some of my tax dollars goes toward having to pay for a share of medical costs caused by obesity. Same for smokers, alcoholics, drug addicts, etc. People should be free to abuse themselves as they see fit, as long as the cost of the consequences doesn't have to be shared with others.

 

[JTE83]

Its too easy to get fat. When I quit biking for the winter I put on 5 lbs while watching what I ate for 4 months.

The food, junk food, and fast food is so good in America.

 

[dgregory57]

It is a dangerous path to start differentiating non-financial things for tax purposes.

(I don't believe all of the following, but use them as bizarre examples)

Why should I pay more to care for the health of someone who has a higher risk of cancer due to family history?

Why should I pay extra taxes to support anorexics?

Why should I pay taxes to support sexually promiscuous people?

Well... you get the idea... if potential health issues mean you pay more taxes, then obesity is just one of them... and one I am working to fix in my own life.

 

[bluecann]

yeah and maybe we should tax cyclists because when they wreck it can be serious.

and skiers for the same reason.

i sure dont want to pay for those runners joint problems.

how about that guy drinking a beer over there? i wonder if he's an alcoholic?

lets tax all the people that don't wear their seatbelts.

dont forget about motorcyclists.

skydivers? dont get me started.

how about those damn kids, always falling down & hurting themselves.

how about if we tax everyone for every conceivable happenstance except pendejo because he's perfect.

 

[BimmsAndBices]

How about.....

Taxing fat people for their own medical bills?
Taxing alcohol drinkers for the damage caused by drunk driving?
Taxing smokers for direct and second hand lung cancer treatment?
Taxing drivers for pollution control stuff? (I'm guilty)

Let those who contribute to a problem pay for it.

 

[ebola]

How about.....

Taxing fat people for their own medical bills?
Taxing alcohol drinkers for the damage caused by drunk driving?
Taxing smokers for direct and second hand lung cancer treatment?
Taxing drivers for pollution control stuff? (I'm guilty)

Let those who contribute to a problem pay for it.

heh. it's amusing to contemplate such a tax but clearly it's a bad idea..
but on a related note - what about this one...

Dont you feel angry when you hear drivers complain that CYCLISTS DON'T PAY ROAD TAX (is that just a uk thing?) 'when they pay they can have their say'. etc.

Considering (a) enviromental concerns (b) the fact a bike+rider is <10th the mass, or space of a car so dont generate much maintainance (c) and consequently cycling eases conjestion (d) + the Health issue (e) the risk you're taking sharing space with big metal boxes
... it's pretty fair I think for a cyclist to not to have to pay road tax.

I guess, as part of that, i'm trying to justify not an obesity tax, but rather a very minor tax benefit for trying to excercise & save the enviroment

 

[baillirw]

Athough this is a bit off topic what about a junk food tax. All foods considered unhealthy by the USDA (or whatever), is taxed an extra 10%, 15%, etc, and all healthy foods are given a tax credit of the same amount. It would make healthy eating more affordable I'd think.

 

[jhuskey]

Personal responsibility? What a concept! It will never happen as long as people push for a socialist society.
Always blame someone else for your short comings.

 

[SBSpartan]

I'm all for it, as long as some of my tax dollars goes toward having to pay for a share of medical costs caused by obesity. Same for smokers, alcoholics, drug addicts, etc. People should be free to abuse themselves as they see fit, as long as the cost of the consequences doesn't have to be shared with others.

So you want more taxes? Brilliant.

 

[SBSpartan]

Athough this is a bit off topic what about a junk food tax. All foods considered unhealthy by the USDA (or whatever), is taxed an extra 10%, 15%, etc, and all healthy foods are given a tax credit of the same amount. It would make healthy eating more affordable I'd think.

So you would like an America with LESS personal freedom? Well, as long as it suits your lifestyle right?

 

[lumpy]

Athough this is a bit off topic what about a junk food tax. All foods considered unhealthy by the USDA (or whatever), is taxed an extra 10%, 15%, etc, and all healthy foods are given a tax credit of the same amount. It would make healthy eating more affordable I'd think.

Brilliant idea! With how so many Americans are without healthcare, the revenue coud go to care for those who need it.

 

[lumpy]

So you would like an America with LESS personal freedom? Well, as long as it suits your lifestyle right?

But what if your personal freedom negatively affects other peoples lives? You're paying for all those who don't have healthcare and those who don't make healthy choices now. Doesn't it make sense to recoup some of your hard earned money?

 

[SBSpartan]

Brilliant idea! With how so many Americans are without healthcare, the revenue coud go to care for those who need it.

When did everyone start turning to the government everytime they get a runny nose? This country is losing its sense of self-reliance. Besides that it isn't what the government is there for.
I can't believe people think it is a good idea to inflict more taxes on people when you are already over-taxed to the hilt as it is.

 

[SBSpartan]

But what if your personal freedom negatively affects other peoples lives? You're paying for all those who don't have healthcare and those who don't make healthy choices now. Doesn't it make sense to recoup some of your hard earned money?

Explain to me how more taxes will help me recoup money?

 

[lumpy]

Explain to me how more taxes will help me recoup money?

Sure. Tax the junk food and put the $$ into emergency room care to care for those who need it. Emergency rooms are closing across the nation because hospitals can't afford to keep them - despite govt funding.

Now if your wondering how YOU will get $$ from this, well your payments to your HMO will go down and there'll be fewer bond initiatives to vote on.

Plus, when you crash and have broken bones and road rash up the wazoo, you won't sit for hours in an emergency room waiting for medical care because your injuries arent life threatening.

 

[SBSpartan]

Sure. Tax the junk food and put the $$ into emergency room care to care for those who need it. Emergency rooms are closing across the nation because hospitals can't afford to keep them - despite govt funding.

Now if your wondering how YOU will get $$ from this, well your payments to your HMO will go down and there'll be fewer bond initiatives to vote on.

Plus, when you crash and have broken bones and road rash up the wazoo, you won't sit for hours in an emergency room waiting for medical care because your injuries arent life threatening.

So by giving me another tax is your solution? What is junk food? Where does the tax stop? I guarantee you that you will be subject to that tax even though you think you eat well. Point number one is out.

You clearly have no idea how insurance works. Since I work for one of the largest insurance providers in the US, fortunately I do. People who DO NOT have health insurance do not have anything to do with the premiums you pay for your health insurance. This is unlike auto insurance where you have to watch out for the uninsured motorist. The only thing that matters in your premiums is the population you are a part of. IE your company. So, my rates will not go down because there is a food tax. Also, how will there be less things to vote on because there is an extra tax on food that as you want it to, will go to health care for those who don't have it? What is more, when did voting become an issue?

The last point you made is crazy at best. I won't wait in the emergency room why? Will I get a pass in front of the guy with an actual life threatening injury because I ate carrots?

 

[lumpy]

The last point you made is crazy at best. I won't wait in the emergency room why? Will I get a pass in front of the guy with an actual life threatening injury because I ate carrots?

No. You'll wait along with the other 50 people waiting for care. You been in an ER lately? It's full of people with the flu and colds who don't have health care and have no where else to go.

The bonds initiative I mention is those proposed to keep ER's open.

So what is your solution to the obesity crisis in America? You realize we are the fattest country in the world.

Do you feel equally opposed to taxing the profits of the oil companies? Or do you believe in Reaganomics and the "trickle down" theory?

 

[SBSpartan]

No. You'll wait along with the other 50 people waiting for care. You been in an ER lately? It's full of people with the flu and colds who don't have health care and have no where else to go.

The bonds initiative I mention is those proposed to keep ER's open.

So what is your solution to the obesity crisis in America? You realize we are the fattest country in the world.

Do you feel equally opposed to taxing the profits of the oil companies? Or do you believe in Reaganomics and the "trickle down" theory?

Yes I have been to an ER in the past couple of years and if you think people with insurance will stop going to the ER you are wrong. You know that as well as I do.

Obesity is NOT the problem of the government and it is NOT something for them to deal with. It is a personal choice. Period.

Take profits from companies? Why would you do that? I knew you were going to bring this up. Let me explain something to you.
The government already takes five times as much out of the proceeds of the sale of a gallon of gas as do the gas stations that sell the stuff. Five times! Now they're talking about taking even more! Every penny that these oil companies pay in taxes ends up reflected in the cost at the pump .. so these pandering government officials come up with the brilliant idea of forcing gas prices even higher as a response to concern over high gas prices? What kind of representation is that?

There is one reason for high gas prices. It's supply and demand. That simple. Add that to the environmental whack-jobs who will most assuredly stand in the way of any further exploration in this country, or the construction of any new refineries ... and you have your problem. If you want a government solution ... tell the government to stop paying so much attention to the anti-capitalist faction of the environmental movement. Start drilling in ANWR. Start exploring off the Atlantic and Florida Gulf coast. Start constructing those nuclear plants. Then get out of the way and let the free market solve this problem as only the free market can.

 

[Pendejo]

BlueCann, I just so happen to agree with most all of your suggestions! And Spartan, you sound like Bill O'Reilly on steroids. Personal responsibility is exactly what I'm advocating. And that means the willingness to bear the price of the consequences, and not have it shared out by society. And your adolescent faith in "free enterprise" is amusing. Free enterprise pretty much bit the dust here in the U.S after WWII. What we have now is a corporatocracy, and our government is the board of directors. And, no, I don't hate America. It's just that it falls so far short of what it was supposed to be.

 

[SBSpartan]

BlueCann, I just so happen to agree with most all of your suggestions! And Spartan, you sound like Bill O'Reilly on steroids. Personal responsibility is exactly what I'm advocating. And that means the willingness to bear the price of the consequences, and not have it shared out by society. And your adolescent faith in "free enterprise" is amusing. Free enterprise pretty much bit the dust here in the U.S after WWII. What we have now is a corporatocracy, and our government is the board of directors. And, no, I don't hate America. It's just that it falls so far short of what it was supposed to be.

Taxes are in fact the price of consequences shared by society. So, I really don't see your point there.

The rest is just not factual. If you think that supply and demand is an adolecent theory, well you really have some thinking to do.

And you just talked over yourself. If in fact there is this corporatocracy, and the government is the board of directors (thus implying that is not what you want) why would you want to give the board of directors more power by letting them tax people? Your theory needs some major tweaking.

And nobody said anyone hated America. It just seems that some people do not understand that it is not the governments responsibility to fix every little problem someone has because they cannot deal with it themselves. And if you are in the crowd that thinks the government should take money from a company that is doing well because their product is in high demand, well get ready to live in either a communist or socialist America. Take you pick.

The bottom line is that if you don't want a company to make money. Don't buy their product. Simple. If enough people are not buying their product they will have to lower prices to meet demand or go out of business.

Why is this so hard to understand.