Summarising the debate

Taxing unhealthy food to help subsidise healthy food should be at the top of any political parties proposed policy list...shouldn't it?

When given the question 'should junk food be taxed to help make healthy food cheaper?', you would expect people to be more inclined to answer yes. After all, we as a nation are obese.

We choose unhealthy food over healthy food. But why? Because it's convenient, fast and cheaper is what I put my money on so it would only make sense to make junk food more expensive and healthy food cheaper.

Sloane (2015) does not think it is that simple. Being an obese nation comes down to habits and personal choice rather than pricing. She mentions eight different points on why taxing unhealthy food will not solve the obese problem but education might. She makes valid points on the fact that we need to be educated to make good, healthy choices that impact our overall health and that taxing a food will not change peoples eating and drinking habits but will harm families and businesses. Sloane emphasises that there is still more research to be done on this topic however there are places where harm could be done.

Kirk (2015) on the other hand, summarising a study for Stuff.co.nz, places a large amount of weight on how unhealthy food taxes and healthy food subsidising could prevent over 2000 deaths per year. The original researchers found that increasing pricing on certain foods and drinks reduced the amount of sales on those items and decreasing the pricing on fruit and vegetables increased the sale of fresh produce. Unhealthy eating is a higher cause of ill health than smoking is in our society now and this study is aimed to try and help the nation become healthier.

Looking at things from both sides of the argument is an eye-opener even though I do already have my side however it does put things into perspective when putting forward my argument.

References:

Sloane, K. (2015) Health-related food taxes and subsidies: A critique of opposition arguments. Retrieved from https://blogs.otago.ac.nz/pubhealthexpert/2015/07/27/health-related-food-taxes-and-subsidies-a-critique-of-opposition-arguments/

Kirk, S. (2015). Tax on foods could prevent 2400 NZ deaths a year - study. Retrieved from http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/70055333/tax-on-foods-could-prevent-2400-nz-deaths-a-year--study                                                                                                       


Comments

Unknown said…
Interesting post Talia. I've always been intrigued around whether taking a similar approach to, say, reducing the number of smokers in NZ by putting a higher tax on cigarettes would be as successful in the obesity and unhealthy food context. I had always assumed it could be that simple but you do make the valid point that personal habits seem to trump the cost of these foods, in fact I've found the same situation in my topic (promoting active lifestyles in the workplace). Look forward to your next post! - Courtney
6 August 2017 at 14:05
tojarp said…
I'm glad that the issue of obesity and healthy eating is finally in the spotlight. Habits definitely are hard to break, which is why there needs to be some incentive to change. I think that both approaches you mention in your post are valid. Education is a must, but using taxation and subsidies for the cause would definitely get the ball rolling.
13 August 2017 at 01:45
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