Taxing Junk Food

Canadians are getting fatter. According to a study by Memorial University, Canada saw a rise in the number of obese adults from 6 % of the population in 1985, to 17% in 2005 (Twells et al. 29). There are many factors to account for the rise in obesity; these factors include the sheer amount of easily accessible fast-food restaurants, increased serving sizes at restaurants, and overall increased sedentary lifestyles of adults, and children. This raises the question, what needs to be done to curb obesity in the country? The Ontario Medical Association suggests that junk food should be treated the same as tobacco, with higher taxes, and warning labels on its packaging (Thanh Ha, 2012). While employing higher taxes on junk food may lower consumption

The first problem with this method is identification of which foods should be taxed higher. There are many challenges in determining which foods are considered healthy. If it was decided that sugar content would be the deciding factor, people could substitute for foods high in fat. The opposite holds true if fat content was chosen as the deciding factor; furthermore, many foods such as avocado, olive oil, and nuts are high in fat, but have many health benefits. Foods such as these prove that catch-all regulations would prove troublesome. Taxation of specific food groups has been proven to be ineffective in curbing obesity by researchers. Soda is often considered to be a leading cause of obesity, so it would stand to reason that higher taxes would lower obesity. A study conducted by American researchers showed that sales taxes on soda had very little impact on obesity levels (Powell, 2009). Even if the tax lowers soda consumption, a significant portion of people will still consume excess calories, and obesity will still be an issue. Taxing junk food is an ineffective measure; if people want specific things, they will find a way to obtain