Tax The Overweight To Pay Medical Bills
By Dr. Phil Maffetone
Overweight people cost the nation $93 billion in additional health costs yearly and about half that is paid for by taxpayers, according to estimates published recently in USA Today. The medical bill for fat people now rivals that of smokers.
I have an answer to this problem: Tax people for being fat.
It's really a simple plan. Each year the Centers for Disease Control can project an estimated cost of the burden overweight people place on the health-care system. Taxpayers would be required to show up at certified IRS weigh-in centers during the month of January when people are fattest after the holidays to have their body-mass index measured. The fat tax will be computed based on the amount over the appropriate body-mass index and projected medical bills for fat people nationwide.
Children also will be required to be weighed, and parents will be charged an additional hefty penalty for fat kids. Consider that medical bills for overweight children are now at $127 million yearly for kids age 6-17.
This all sounds fair to me. But I'd take it one step further.
In addition to taxing people for being overweight, under my proactive tax plan I would also place a "sin tax" on food products that make people fat. This is really nothing new - alcohol and tobacco products already have such taxes. An additional percentage would be charged for processed foods or anything containing refined sugar or flour, or hydrogenated oils. Soda pop, fast food and doughnuts would be taxed at an even higher rate.
A new tax strategy wouldn't be any good without incentives. How about a standard deduction for having a normal body-mass index? All fresh fruits and vegetables would be tax-deductible items. Just think of the boost this would give the agriculture industry and overall economy as we switch from a society of processed junk to one of real food. We could institute further deductions for maintaining a regular exercise program (this could be substantiated to the IRS by submitting scores from MAF Tests as described in my book, In Fitness and In Health).
If this sort of tax strategy seems too radical, consider the alternative. The nation will continue to get fatter, and this will continue to cost more and more in terms of health care and taxes.
I say "tax the fat." If it doesn't raise more awareness to this out-of-control health issue, at least we'll cover the medical bills.
By Dr. Phil Maffetone
Overweight people cost the nation $93 billion in additional health costs yearly and about half that is paid for by taxpayers, according to estimates published recently in USA Today. The medical bill for fat people now rivals that of smokers.
I have an answer to this problem: Tax people for being fat.
It's really a simple plan. Each year the Centers for Disease Control can project an estimated cost of the burden overweight people place on the health-care system. Taxpayers would be required to show up at certified IRS weigh-in centers during the month of January when people are fattest after the holidays to have their body-mass index measured. The fat tax will be computed based on the amount over the appropriate body-mass index and projected medical bills for fat people nationwide.
Children also will be required to be weighed, and parents will be charged an additional hefty penalty for fat kids. Consider that medical bills for overweight children are now at $127 million yearly for kids age 6-17.
This all sounds fair to me. But I'd take it one step further.
In addition to taxing people for being overweight, under my proactive tax plan I would also place a "sin tax" on food products that make people fat. This is really nothing new - alcohol and tobacco products already have such taxes. An additional percentage would be charged for processed foods or anything containing refined sugar or flour, or hydrogenated oils. Soda pop, fast food and doughnuts would be taxed at an even higher rate.
A new tax strategy wouldn't be any good without incentives. How about a standard deduction for having a normal body-mass index? All fresh fruits and vegetables would be tax-deductible items. Just think of the boost this would give the agriculture industry and overall economy as we switch from a society of processed junk to one of real food. We could institute further deductions for maintaining a regular exercise program (this could be substantiated to the IRS by submitting scores from MAF Tests as described in my book, In Fitness and In Health).
If this sort of tax strategy seems too radical, consider the alternative. The nation will continue to get fatter, and this will continue to cost more and more in terms of health care and taxes.
I say "tax the fat." If it doesn't raise more awareness to this out-of-control health issue, at least we'll cover the medical bills.