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NY Bill Proposes Fat Tax On Games, DVDs, Junk Food
eldavojohn writes "GamePolitics is writing about a proposal to tax things that make your kids fat. The logic from its author: 'Almost all experts agree that the primary reasons [for the obesity epidemic] are increased consumption of larger quantities of high calorie foods, snacks and sugar sweetened beverages... and lack of physical activity as vigorous play is replaced by sedentary activities such as watching more television, movies and videos and playing video games. This bill would raise revenues from modest surcharges on the very food products and sedentary activities that are linked to the lifestyle changes involved in the explosion of childhood obesity in the last 20-30 years.' Not as explicit as Japan's fat tax but we're getting there."
I applaud the effort- it's a worthy cause..
But it's not going to make anybody skinny. Just make hordes of cash under a cause that everyone would support. This is a money grab.
Belief? Hope? Preference?The Existential Vortex
as much as yes, these things can make people fat, how are they trying to put video games into this? People actually SWEAT from video games. This is like saying a racecar driver gets fat because he's sitting the whole time, which many know is not true at all.
Got to love the idea too, pay extra even if you are, say, someone in shape who merely wants to cheat on their diet once in a blue moon, now should be taxed extra too. Sheesh.
So yeah, nothing but moneygrab.
People with office jobs should have to pay this tax. They sit on their ass all day. Why should a construction worker, a whorehouse picker, or any other manual labour have to support office workers' sedentary lifestyle?
Do i get a tax break for buying celery?
What's next, Wii subsidies?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Anyone who is morbidly obese and doesn't have a diagnosed thyroid problem gets no Medicare or Medicaid? How right wing of me! I should be kind and compassionate by paying taxes to support the health care of people who know their habits are destroying them.
It is simply reclaiming what they are going to pay out
Got a letter from my company's health insurance yesterday.
"Health care premiums will increase as a direct result of the State Legislature approving the Governor's proposed increases in taxes, fees and assessments on your health benefits on February 4, as part of his Deficit Reduction Plan."
So they're taxing both ends.
Let's tax magazines and books.
The problem isn't that there aren't enough taxes on junk food, the problem is that there's too much crap in it.
While it would be nice to think that putting taxes on garbage disguised as food would promote the availability of real food, I'm inclined to doubt that things work that way.
I ride my stationary bike while I watch DVDs. Should I get a tax credit because I bought exercise equipment to offset a tax that assumes too much?
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
"Almost all experts agree that the primary reasons [for the obesity epidemic] are increased consumption of larger quantities of high calorie foods, snacks and sugar sweetened beverages... and lack of physical activity"
So wait...you're trying to tell me that the first law of thermodynamics is true? Lies!
"I zero-index my hamsters" - Willtor (147206)
How about lowing (or even removing) taxesd on things that are likely to help keep you fit. Sporting equip, health foods, etc.
Oh thats right the greedy fucks don't get any money from that.
I mean, there HAVE been studies that show the obesity levels began rising at the same time that High Fructose Corn Syrup started to infiltrate all of our foods.
I mean do they REALLY need to add HFCS to Tomato Sauces, Soups, etc. ?
The best thing lately has been the return to sugar as a sweetener. Pepsi Throwback is one great example (its much less sweet than regular pepsi - and I'm a Coke drinker primarily).
UPS Sucks
Tax your gasoline to a similar degree as in Europe. That would encourage less car journeys, more walking/cycling and act as a buffer for when the oil prices start increasing again so your gas prices won't double practically overnight again.
"I bless every day that I continue to live, for every day is pure profit."
The government has gone so far out to control our lives with taxes on things people disapprove of it isn't funny.
It will only get better once the government has gone so far out of whack that it micromanages every aspect of our lives. Only then will there be enough pushback
when you will have to go underground to get a decent rat-burger (with fries) and a cold beer...
People want free health care, people want free this, that, and the other thing.
and they will find enough people who will feel it is OK to tax X because said people don't like X. The problem is that group will get whacked by people who don't like Y.
A VAT by any other name.
The stuff has to be paid for. The fastest way to keep people dependent on the government and keep people poor is to make it easy to be dependent and poor.
I know people who would cheer those gamers being taxed, I have vegan friends who would have a parade for fatties to pay more tax...
it never ends... too many people take enjoyment by having others punished. Most get bent when it occurs because of "religious" reasons but honestly does it matter when it comes down to it?
Democracies always have problems when people finally figure out they can vote themselves other peoples money, its worse when elected officials realize it works to keep them in office. Its even worse when a sitting President uses the bully pulpit to stomp on contract law and intimidate lawful holders of guaranteed debt to give it up.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
The problem that's unique to the US is that government corn subsidies makes corn cheaper than anything else. So manufacturers use high fructose corn syrup instead of sugar as sweetener.
HFCS is not only a sugar substitute, it also gets put into things that wouldn't otherwise be sweetened if you had to pay the full cost of sugar to sweeten it.
How about the US government stop subsidising corn?
Does my bum look big in this?
None of these things make people fat! Parents let their kids get fat. When I was young, I had a Nintendo and Gameboy and plenty of videos and TV to watch, but my Mother wouldn't let me sit on my ass and watch them all day. She made all of her children go outside. If we were bored, she gave us yard work and/or other chores to do! The children today aren't going to get less fat if they tax this stuff because people will keep buying it (look at cigarettes, we know that they will give you cancer and they tax the hell out of it, almost $8.00 a pack in NY, but millions of people buy them every day). If you want to stop kids from being fat do something to get the parents involved. Start making your kids play outside!!!!
Somewhere in a dark place you will find:
www.m1
when I just read this article linked from the main page.
Judging by a large portion of the people I work with, and the cruft found between their keyboards when they whine their keys aren't working correctly, I'd say the study is spot on.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
If you're against sedentary activities in general, the list is surely much longer than videogames and DVDs. How about, say, books? Or televisions? Or board games?
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
I'm a marathoner who spends quite a bit of time playing video games.
Do I get a tax deduction for the hours I spend running?
Why the 'ef is the city taxing these things that *fit* folks also enjoy.
I enjoy Video games, watching DVD's and the occasional 2^32 calorie baconator sandwich. I also work out with weights 4 days a week and try to squeeze in some cardio on the weekends. I work hard to keep myself in shape, why the heck should I be paying these dumb taxes just because the city decided to play nanny to some obviously retarded morons..
This reeks of the typical lawyer 'shift the blame' mentality. Tax the fat fucking folks not the source of their fat, charge them double on Airplanes and subways, the assholes take up 2.5 seats each, tax them for treating walkways like amusement park rides, tax them for holding up pedestrian traffic, No more disabled parking stickers for fat retards, let them walk and burn it off.
Make an exception in case of folks that can't help it e.g. thyroid disorders but all the other morons stuffing themselves with Big Mac's all day long, teach them a lesson. the Japanese way sounds pretty good..
I'm not a nutritionist, nor play one on TV, but I can make the argument that one can of Coke every day does *not* make a person overweight, while eating too much broccoli *will*.
The point: this is not about nutrition or health, but rather, about the government finding *any excuse it can* to extract more and more money from the pockets of it's citizenry... while at the same time imposing more and more of it's will on them.
A day will come... sooner than the busybody pointy-head academics, power hungry Congressional thugs, and greedy special-interest lobbyists think... when those of us peasants who continuously get ravaged by out of control lawmakers, have finally had enough... and we begin reaching for our pitchforks.
The problem with socialism is that they always run out of other people's money. - Margaret Thatcher
In practice, it would penalize those who don't sneak out in the middle of the night and crap on their neighbors' lawns.
Just stop subsidizing corn and corn syrup, and establish something like the FDA, but functioning.
Growing up, and trying to deal with my diet, I realized at some point that all these drive-throughs kill people. You can't live off of McDonalds. If you ate Burger King for every meal you would die. Yet this food is marketed more, cheaper than, and more convenient than going to the grocery store. Going to the grocery store to pick up some fruit takes longer and costs more than stopping by Del Taco. Something is wrong here.
(To you people who can't live without your fast food, I just say this as someone who struggled with obesity, you diet is a huge part of your health. It's not easy. Going to drive throughs too often KILLS YOU.)
I've thought about this and similar subjects a lot (such as smoking cigarettes) and I think society has the following options.
Re: Fat Tax. It doesn't sit well with me. However, I admit that this tax will affect some people who might get something from the grocery store instead of ordering Pizza. It will make fat food cost more than healthy food. (I almost like this tax for this reason alone.)
After thinking about it, I realized I wasn't so against a fat tax as I thought I was. But damn, if you're gonna make a fat tax then lower some other goddamn taxes! Make my fucking carrots and apples and oranges tax free! (Oh god... who gets to decide what food is "healthy" and what food is "unhealthy"?)
Kids don't play outside anymore. When I was a kid, my friends and I would go ride our bikes, go build a tree fort, play hide and seek, or play a million and one other games we made up on the spot. Sometimes we fell down, sometimes we got hurt, and once in a while we even learned something.
These days everyone is so worried. "Won't somebody think of the children!"
The Children are growing up with out learning that when you fall sometimes you get hurt.
Here is a connection these so called experts never seem to figure out. Kids that go out side to play, get exercise, and (Imagine this.) they don't get fat.
I weep for the future!
If I were God, wouldn't I protect my churches from acts of me?
1) Legalize marijuana
2) Regulate and tax it
3) PROFIT!!!
There's not even a ??? step to worry about with this one.
Murphey's fighting Occam, and we're in the stands.
I travel by public transport and pass by Utrecht Central Station. It has various eateries, from healthy to McD/Burger King. Price for a McD basic hamburger, 1euro. Price of a natural bagle with cream chease. 2,95. Both satisfy my hunger, but what about my thirst? 1 euro for a soft drink, 3 euro for a fruit shake. If I am buy a meal it is 2 bagles and 1 fruit juice , nearly 10 euro's or 2 hamburder and a soda for 3 euro.
I am making a decent salary but also got expenses.
Now imagine a tax which made the hamburger cost 3 euro and lowered the sales tax on healthy foor dropping its price to 2,50. A LOT easier to remain healthy.
Doubt it will work this way, but still, if you got to tax something, then tax something I want to cut down on buying anyway.
So go for it I say. It means the end of the month won't see me stuffing myself with more fat then is good for me.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
What happened to free will and free choice? If sitting on your ass watching TV, drinking cokes makes you fat who cares. Why should the government have the right to tell someone they need to not do/consume certain things via a tax.
Someone could argue that fat people cost more in medical expenses and because of this they cause the cost of medical procedures to rise. This may be true. However, if someone is over weight they have a higher chance of death via heart attack, or diabetes. Healthy people end up living longer, and costing more money. So what is the problem with someone being fat? In the long run they cost less.
On the other hand could fit people also cause medical expenses to rise? Running is bad for your knees you could twist a knee or ankle in basketball or baseball. You could get a concussion in football or loose tooth in hockey.
So being both health or fat increase the cost of insurance and medical expenses on a whole, so why just target fat people? Is this just a political/social vendetta against over weight people?
I smoked pot once. But I DID NOT inhale. Will you hire me?
Have you ever even visited the US? Many areas are so thoroughly designed with the car in mind that attempting to walk, cycle or use public transport is downright impossible.
When fat is outlawed, only Outlaws will be fat.
What about other sedentary activities like lawmakers who sit around thinking up this crap?
On a more serious note, what about sedentary jobs? What about stress? If you apply the same logic to all activities then people would have to pay to be air traffic controllers.
I've lost all my marbles except one & It's fun to test angular & centripetal acceleration in my skull
You are out of your gourd if you think corn has no nutritional value. It was the staple grain in the diet of many Native American tribes for centuries. That doesn't mean we should turn it in to a sugar substitute and put it in everything, but trying to pretend that it isn't an important grain is silly.
I ran a half marathon last year and I hope to run a full marathon this year. There is almost no fat on my body. I go to the gym and then come home and relax by playing video gams.
If I lived in NY, I'd be pissed. Playing video games and exercise are not mutually exclusive. Maybe if these kids had parents that didn't sit around watching TV every night while eating their take out dinner there wouldn't be a problem?
First they went after alcohol. I didn't notice because it was before my time.
Then they went after the smokers with taxes. I said "good they shouldn't smoke anyhow."
Now they are going after fat people. I said "wait a second, I'm not fat..."
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
Why not fat tax recliners and comfy couches along with any channel that shows the NFL all day on Sunday (and Beer too)?
I'm sure that will help the slightly older generation also get out there and be fit.
Lets just be honest... New York needs money. This is the 5th or 6th ridiculous new New York Tax featured on slashdot in the past year and a half. None of this has to do with anything they claim it does.
This is about poor management within NY state. Our government is out of f'n control here. We're litterally leading the state BLIND... and fucking hookers with state paychecks.
Tax soda, junk food, plastic bags, AMAZON.com.... etc... These are the brilliant ideas of our elected morons.
Lots of people pass through those toll booths every day. Supposedly they rake in 18+million a week on them... Where does all of that go? Oh wait... to BUILD 2 COMPLETELY NEW BASEBALL STADIUMS for 2 of the richest teams in baseball!
What the fuck are we doing? The Yankees should have paid for their stadium on their on. The Mets should pay for their own stadium. Let me ask you this.... Since all of our tax dollars went to building these 2 USELESS stadiums to replace 2 functioning (and 1 of which historic) stadiums... I can now assume that i can go to the games any time i want for free right? Nope. Not only did they take our tax dollars to build these redundant stadiums, they have the nerve to charge us ridiculous fees to get in. Talk about a fucking con job.
THAT is our political system at its "best"
So pay for your soda tax.... pay your GTA4 tax... :) Lets really talk about WHERE THE FUCKING MONEY GOES.... and who sells us out on a daily fucking basis. ... and I'm for National Health care folks :)