Quote:
Originally Posted by Azure
Obviously you think more taxes are a decent idea. You're big government, and would probably tax everything you possibly could.
For the record, no I wouldn't tax fast food. You said it yourself, most foods in moderation are okay. So why punish the people who only eat it in moderation? Why tax it?
There are 46 million smokers in the US, and almost a 100 million people who are obese. Which do you think will be a bigger drain on the health care system in the next 50 years?
Considering of course, the fact that obesity rates will continue to rise, and smoking rates will continue to fall. We went from 50 million obese/overweight people, to 100 million in 10 years.
While on the other hand, the amount of people who smoke in the United States was reduced by 50% in the past 3 decades.
Assuming those trends continue, from 2010-2020, the amount of smokers in the US will decrease by another 17%, while obesity rates will climb, another 50%.
So, in 2020, there will be 38 million smokers in the US, but 200 million obese people.
Better start taxing junk food before all those people start draining health care resources. That'll stop them from getting fat.
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Well, I never said that. But by your own admission, in spite of the fact that there are more obese people than smokers, smoking is still a much bigger problem. 17 times bigger, actually.
In any case, I'm not sure I understand your point. Taxing cigarettes is bad because fat people are unhealthy too?
For one thing, it's a false analogy. People are fat for all kinds of reasons. Smokers who die of lung cancer are pretty much always sick because they smoked.
Secondly, it doesn't address the core issue--that money to offset the drain on social resources presented by smokers has to come from somewhere. Taking it from smokers--who in any case choose to smoke--seems like a logical and fair alternative to raising taxes on everyone.