Comment & Debate
Anthony Westell. “Why the obesity epidemic justifies a fat tax”. GlobeandMail.com. 11 Apr. 2007 – “We ban the sale of cigarettes to children and tax heavily to discourage smoking by adults. Tobacco companies are forbidden to advertise. Why? Because we know smoking may cause cancer and other ailments. We have similar policies discouraging the use of alcohol. The new health problem rapidly becoming an epidemic is obesity, particularly among children. We know colas and other sugary drinks are significant contributors to obesity. They are not as dangerous to health as smoking and drinking, so we probably couldn’t justify banning their sale to children, but there is certainly a case for taxing them to raise prices and reduce consumption.”