It is discussed that having an unhealthy diet decreases everybody’s life quality. Both the people eating unhealthily and their environment are affected in a negative way. There are some ideas supporting the authorities to introduce a new type of tax to discourage people. However, there are some people thinking a “fat tax” would not be right and just. This writing will review these two opinions.
People supporting the idea of a new tax are considering the well-being of the whole society and themselves. They think that they should decrease the consumption of unhealthy foods and that could be done by increasing the prices. A special kind of tax would dramatically reduce the sales of these products. For instance, one of the main reasons of fast-food restaurants being very popular is their pricing strategies. Thus, a change in prices would significantly affect the demand of these industries.
The opposing idea is about a fundamental concept, equality. This new law would cause a discrimination between people upon their eating habits. For example, a person who enjoys eating burgers will have to pay more just because the food is considered unhealthy. For that reason, it is highly possible that it would cause a major conflict between people in the near future.
In conclusion, I believe that, it would not be fair to charge extra money from a food just because it is considered unhealthy. I think that people should be able to choose and do whatever they think is the best for them. In addition to that, it would be much better to explain the reasons of why unhealthy eating is not good for both individuals and their social environments.