This article says it all - the fat tax is not to save anyone nor pay for any health care, it is primarily to raise money and why? because they are already taxing everyone and need a new source for taxation. You need only be mildly imaginative to conjure up great ideas for new taxes:
1) charging prisoners - we have 3 million people in jail at $30-50k a year. Why not lower the standards, a TV in common area, but if you want to pay more you can have a private TV. You could also pay more to eat alone. And of course, you cannot do this for every prison and every prisoner - but for the less offensive of those incarcerated. Want to bet it will happen? It already is to some degree - celebrities check themselves into a jail in Lynwood. They pay for their stay, but their accommodations are better and it is less like County than County. Coming soon to a jail near you.
2) television license: they have that here in England. You pay a license fee each year to have television service, and then you pay your cable/satellite bill.
3) mileage fee: you drive 10 miles you pay $1 a year, you drive 12,000 miles you pay $1,000 a year. Each state would be factored in and some multiplier would be used. In Delaware they would start with 0 miles free whereas in California, we would all receive 8,000 miles free - above the free level, would be taxed - separate from the gas tax and separate from the license and registration.
And I came up with these in a few moments. Think what Obama can conjure up given the multitudes who serve him.
Be ready. Be prepared. The time is close when we will be taxed based upon the number of windows in our homes.
Germany Weighs Tax on the Obese
Hugh Collins
AOL News (July 23, 2010)
Marco Wanderwitz, a conservative member of parliament for the German state of Saxony, said it is unfair and unsustainable for the taxpayer to carry the entire cost of treating obesity-related illnesses in the public health system.
"I think that it would be sensible if those who deliberately lead unhealthy lives would be held financially accountable for that," Wanderwitz said, according to Reuters.
Germany's health system is paid for by a series of mandatory health insurance funds, all of which are reporting serious deficits as the system is overused. [And how will Obama keep ourt system from being 'overused'?]
Germany, famed for its beer, pork and chocolates, is one of the fattest countries in Europe. Twenty-one percent of German adults were obese in 2007, and the German newspaper Bild estimates that the cost of treating obesity-related illnesses is about 17 billion euro, or $21.7 billion, a year.
Walter Willett, a professor of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, described the idea of a fat tax as "not humane." He told AOL News that lifestyle is not the only factor in obesity, with both genetics and urban environments playing major roles.
"It's not fair to tax somebody just for being obese," Willett said. "Most people who are obese would prefer not to be so."
Health economist Jurgen Wasem called for Germany to tackle the problem of fattening snacks in order to raise money and reduce obesity.
"One should, as with tobacco, tax the purchase of unhealthy consumer goods at a higher rate and partly maintain the health system," Wasem said, according to Germany's English-language newspaper The Local. "That applies to alcohol, chocolate or risky sporting equipment such as hang-gliders."
Others are suggesting even more extreme measures. The German teachers association recently called for school kids to be weighed each day, The Daily Telegraph said.
The fat kids could then be reported to social services, who could send them to health clinics.
Willett identified improving children's diets as one of the most effective ways to deal with obesity and spiraling health care costs.
"The fact that we're not feeding our kids as well as we can is very foolish," Willett told AOL News.
fat
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