In health psychology domain, obesity is a chronic health-related condition that affects millions of people worldwide. Many countries have addressed concerns over the increase of unhealthy food and with it the amount of obese people in society. One of the proposed solutions to this problem is to adopt a tax on comfort food so that people can choose to eat healthier. I agree with this proposal because it would curb chronic disease and incentivize people to engage in healthy behavior long-term.
First of all, taxation on junk food would make it easier for people to eat healthy food. The main reason people eat low-nutrient food is that it is cheap and widely available. If a tax were to be imposed, fast food would be as expensive as the healthy option and people would be more likely to eat healthy food.
Moreover, junk food causes many long-term conditions other than obesity. As stated previously, unhealthy food can lead to many chronic diseases in countries around the world, especially developing countries. Taxing junk food would impact people immensely as fast food chain restaurants contribute negatively to people’s health and chronic illnesses. It should be made to cover that cost through taxation and curb the likelihood of suffering from behavioral consequences.
Lastly, a tax could save up healthcare cost that can be channeled elsewhere. If the programs allow taxes on food with low nutritional content, they would gain significant budget which can be used towards improving chronic health conditions and preventive care. For example, there could be a public education program promoting healthy behavioral strategies and routine checkup can be incentivized to prevent disease from developing or progressing to a worsen condition.
In conclusion, it is reasonable that taxing unhealthy food would encourage people to eat healthily. A tax would disincentivize people to make unhealthy choices, lead to higher cost of purchase, and improve the outcomes of other types of diseases. Public programs would further direct funding to other streams of revenue. This would optimize healthcare cost and make available public health resources in otherwise impoverished areas of public life.