In recent years, many countries have become concerned about their citizens’ health conditions due to their excessive consumption of junk food. Some people argue that the government should subsidise healthy foods to help their citizens afford them, while others argue that the government needs to raise the costs of unhealthy foods through taxation. In my view, combining both approaches is the best way to solve this problem.
To begin, I agree that the tax option can help reduce the consumption of potentially harmful foods. For example, in Indonesia, companies that sell high in sugar products need to pay more for the “sugar tax”. This tax on foods with a high rate of sugar has had positive impacts. However, these manufacturers reacted to this policy by creating products with lower sugar levels to just under the standard amount for the tax, and as a result, most people tend to buy this slightly healthier version of products without really changing their dietary habits. Furthermore, it could be argued that this approach won’t help people with financial issues to be able to afford healthier foods.
In addition to that, the government needs to help citizens by subsidizing healthier foods such as fruits and vegetables to make them more affordable and accessible for the people facing financial problems. Indeed, this strategy is giving greater impacts on people’s eating habits and encourages them to set a healthier diet for them. Even though this strategy is best to maintain people’s health, of course one drawback would be persuading the government to spend more money on subsidizing, rather than collecting money through taxation.
In conclusion, both strategies on subsidizing healthy foods and raise up products with high levels of sugar will be the best solution to create and maintain citizens’ health condition. If government were able to implement these strategies, the citizens will have a longer and healthier life.