Heavy Tax Thesis

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Heavy Tax One-third of all Americans either have diabetes or are pre-diabetic, most with Type 2 diabetes, the kind associated with bad eating habits (Bittman). This startling number could be lowered by adding a “fat tax” or a tax on junk food and soda. This tax could also help lower America’s large healthcare costs. Health care costs account for nearly one out every five dollars in the American national economy (Blanding). To encourage healthy eating higher taxes should be imposed on soft drinks and junk food. Health related obesity costs are projected to reach three hundred forty four billion dollars by 2018 (Bittman). It is thought that increasing the taxes on junk food has the ability to decrease the consumption. A twenty percent tax increase on sugary drinks, nationally, could result to as high as a twenty percent decrease in consumption. By …show more content…
The tax is also thought to help reduce family medical bills. Dariush Mozaffarian, dean of the Friedman School, states “The modest tax would be used to subsidize minimally processed foods, mostly whole foods that scientific evidence states are clearly healthy, such as fruits, vegetables, vegetable oils, nuts, and fish” (Blanding). This tax could save three hundred fifty million dollars and bring in eight hundred million dollars (Bittman). This money could be used to subsidize healthy foods and support lunch programs (Blanding). A study in Illinois shows that a two-cent tax per ounce on soda would reduce youth obesity by eighteen percent. A study from Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health, predicts that a penny tax on sugar sweetened beverages in New York state would save three billion dollars in health care costs over the course of a decade. The study also showed that over the course of a decade, this tax could prevent thirty seven thousand cases of diabetes and bring in one billion dollars annually