Weigh this carefully: Tax the obese
canoe.ca
By DR. GIFFORD-JONES -- Special to C-Health
What is the best way to solve the medical crisis? The health chest once full of money is bare in Canada. Even the U.S wonders how it can finance people's voracious appetite for medical treatment. There's one sure solution: Tax the obese.
Twenty-five years ago, I jokingly urged surgeons to charge patients by the pound. I argued it wasn't just twice as difficult to operate on a 300-pound patient compared to one half that weight, but that it also was 10 times more challenging, much more dangerous for the patient and often resulted in costly complications.
Does this mean I'm an obesity basher? Not at all. I was trying to get the message to overweight people that there were major surgical and health hazards associated with obesity.
Now an article in The British Medical Journal suggests taxing fatty foods. Tom Marshall, a professor at the University of Birmingham, claims this would prevent premature deaths and cut the incidence of heart disease.
But taxing fatty foods is the wrong route. For instance, Marshall wants to tax whole milk. Yet we know that whole milk is needed for the mental development of young children. And since there's so much fat in packaged foods, how and where could we draw the line? It's much too complicated.
The fairest way to tax fat is by using the bathroom scale. It never lies. And everyone can read the numbers.
As well, it's high time to eliminate the hypocrisy and injustice of taxation. For instance, why should moderate alcohol drinkers be taxed to high heaven for their pre-dinner drink? After all, there are more than 20 studies in the world that show moderate drinkers live longer and show decreased risk of heart attack. Yet we're taxed for being good?
But why do politicians tip-toe around irresponsible obesity? I've suggested for years that it's not cancer or heart disease that's the No. 1 killer -- it's obesity. And yet grossly overweight people cost the health care system much more, but they pay the same tax as everyone else.
Chronic strain
What makes obesity life-threatening is the chronic strain on many organs, especially the pancreas. Like a tired horse, the pancreas eventually falters from overwork. Today, nine out of 10 diabetics are obese. It was just one in 10 back 50 years ago.
Diabetes, in turn, increases the chance of heart attack, hypertension, stroke, kidney disease, blindness and some types of cancer.
Often, death certificates state the cause of death was heart attack, stroke or some other problem. But excess fat is really the culprit. Obesity is the No. 1 killer because it triggers all these complications.
The threat of an obesity tax might drive home the message. I can already see newspaper headlines: "Government passes fat-tax legislation." It would be headline news around the world.
Would a fat tax work? History shows that few things motivate people more than money. And who doesn't want to pay lower taxes? Just the thought of beating the government would be a great incentive to push ourselves away from the table and into a lower tax bracket.
But I can hear the scream if politicians ever proposed such legislation. I can also hear overweight patients accusing me of being obesophilic. The truth is it's a last resort to save overweight people from degenerative diseases that should never happen or from premature death.
Today, the obesity problem is spinning out of control. And if you don't think there's a fat problem, just look around you. Now what do readers think about a fat tax? I'd be interested in your comments. |
