Hell again money friends. Fat tax ?????

Don't you just hate it when yet another jobsworth income generation idea comes along? We are currently in a recession where what is left of the high street is underpinned by take away shops. How will a 'fat tax' affect their current fragile trading position I wonder?

And will it extend to ice cream parlours, coffee shops, fish and chip shops, pizza shops, restaurants, other fast food establishments?

The certain thing is that you will not change people's habits overnight on this one and for sure it will hit traders badly, certainly if the idea is successful as sales should theoretically nose dive, as it remains very much a penalty tax. But for sure, in times of recession and falling revenues, it's bound to be attractive to raise more tax' first and foremost. WE certainly haven't cut out smoking following the massive tax hikes, have we, but then we do appreciate addictions are difficult to control.

If the government is intent on healthy eating regulation, why not put more promotion and legislation on supermarkets and food providers to make people much more aware of their choice of foods ... something akin perhaps to the current cigarette health warnings. That then gives people an informed choice. But I guess that idea is far too radical to legislate so it's probably the soft option to simply try and tax it into submission!

Bang goes the Yum Yums this week!

Another tax raiser and nothing else we dont all earn salaries on a par with MPs and our food is not subsidesed as theirs is in the parliment restaurents.

It's not a tax on fat it's a tax on food. It will be levied on basics such as milk, cheese, butter etc ........ hardly obesity-causing fast-food rubbish.
Once again they are conning the public with their lies, in reality it's another way of emptying our pockets and filling theirs. Makes me sick.

It's essentially a way of clawing back the VAT not collected on food items.

A fat tax has been on the card for years - I remember it being suggested in the late 1990s as a way of cutting obesity. It has not been implemented because it is really impossible to make it fair as not everyone is obese and some of us enjoy high fat foods and just happen to stay at a reasonable weight because we workout or have jobs that need a high energy output. It would be terrible to destroy our local businesses that make hand crafted cheeses, cakes, biscuits or desserts by hitting them with a tax, and how unfair to those who are on a low income and rely on high energy low-cost foods to survive and maybe at a time in their lives when long life-span is not their greatest priority. Fat tax - no way.

Its a revenue building exercise pure and simple.. there's nothing wrong with any food in moderation, and people with physical jobs NEED foods with high calorific value! We should be free to make our own choices, nanny state going too far. Think how it will affect the jobs of those in the food trade, money saved on treating medical conditions atttributed or exacerbated by obesity will be spent on income support instead

Utterly ridiculous! We should be allowed to choose what we want to eat for precisely the reasons that others have already stated. I would prefer to see food health advice labelling sorted out once and for all. Personally, I favour the 'traffic light' system and would like to see it adopted universally. It may not be perfect, but none are, and it's easy even for the lazy among us...red = bad, green = good, yellow = watch it!

The 'traffic light' system for labelling foods has also been under discussion in the food industry for several years but it has never achieved universal acceptance. I think this is because each one of the major supermarket groups and some major food manufacturers had already developed their own 'good/bad' systems according to what suited them. They needed to be seen to be doing something to help the confused consumer but did not want to hit sales of popular but maybe 'less healthy' products. (I really hate using that phrase as I am a strong believer in good and bad diets rather than good and bad foods.) The traffic light system does at least give a quick indication to the busy/rushed shopper that a product is going to be high in fat, sugar or salt (or maybe all three) and to bear that in mind when using it.