Taxing Junk Food

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ENG 150 Argumentative Essay Saturated Taxes High taxes haven’t deterred smokers. They haven’t reduced the number of alcoholics. And they certainly haven’t prevented people from buying gasoline. If the price of a BigMac escalates, people will not suddenly crave tofu and veggie burgers. Imposing higher taxes on junk food will not encourage healthy eating. Taxes don’t stop people from buying things that satisfy them. By restricting dietary choices Americans will not suddenly know the difference between junk food and health food. The government cannot appropriately regulate and restrict improper consumption in people’s homes; they need to keep their hands out of Americans pockets and start fighting obesity through educating adults and their children on proper nutritional routines. Imposing a junk food tax draws attention to one of the most imperative questions which is how to define foods as unhealthy. Researcher Oliver T Mytton stresses that it is impossible to accurately measure how consumption of unhealthy foods directly contributes to health problems. For instance, many Americans eat unhealthy, but if they combine this with regular exercise, it may not be detrimental to their healthy appearance. With that being said, how do you classify food as “junk food?” Some people believe candy and chips are junk food while others believe that carbs are junk. What about sugary granola bars? What about fried foods? Clearly individual views of “junk food” vary by lifestyle, diet, upbringing, culture and many other factors. This brings to light another question: Should the tax be implemented on the raw ingredients or on the final product? These topics make it extremely unclear from a legislative point of view on how such taxes would be created and enforced. Based on the above information, the correlation between the nation’s obesity levels and junk food intake is nearly

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