We should introduce a 'fat tax'

Is junk food cheaper and easier to buy? Here is an article I strongly recommend reading: http://www.thesimpledollar.com... The cost? A guy tried to make a homemade Mcdonalds, the ingredients cost him $1.83, while the McDonald"s double cheeseburger was $1.06. However the homemade burger had *leftovers* - most of a diced onion, almost all of a jar of pickles, six slices of cheese, and three hamburger buns which could be used to make a sandwich another day. He also used a slice of tomato instead of ketchup which was healthier but increased the cost (he can't stand ketchup). Nutrition facts of a McDonalds burger Serving Size: 5.8 oz Calories: 440 Calories From Fat: 210 Total Fat: 23 grams % Daily Value: 35% Saturated Fat: 11 grams % Daily Value: 54% Trans Fat: 1.5 grams % Daily Value: 80% Cholesterol: 80 grams % Daily Value: 26% Nutrition facts of the homemade burger (using low quality 80/20 meat) Serving Size: 3.2 oz Calories: 243 Calories From Fat: 144 Total Fat: 16 grams % Daily Value: 24% Saturated Fat: 6 grams % Daily Value: 30% Trans Fat: 0 grams % Daily Value: 0% Cholesterol: 80 milligrams % Daily Value: 26% The homemade burger can be grilled to allow more fat to drip away, making it more healthy too, also higher quality meat can be purchased if you want to pay more.When all the costs are considered you might spend pennies more, but you have a much healthier and tastier burger. The Time? A lot of people buy fast food because they believe it to be quicker. So let's look at that. It took him: two minutes to shop for the supplies two minutes to make the patties and get them on the grill ten minutes for the patties to cook and to prepare the other stuff one minute to reheat the leftover cheeseburgers later to build more sandwiches one minute for cleanup (with a dishwasher) That's a total of 16 minutes for the homemade cheeseburger. How about the McDonald"s version? It took him 11 minutes = less time But... if you go there again for another meal, that's 22 minutes for the McDonald's burger = more time Conclusion - it might take less effort to buy fast food, but it will take up more of your time in the long run. Healthy food is already cheaper than junk food, so further increasing the cost of junk food is unnecessary. I'm not sure why you have said that nuts have good fat because products with nuts might be mislabelled as unhealthy due to the fat content if a fat tax was introduced. Obesity is a major problem and should be solved in a fair and responsible manner. The money wasted on studying fat tax could be used to help people. 2/3 overweight might sound alarming, but it's not really a problem unless they continue to put on weight, and this can be easily reversed without trying to control people. Ultimately we must choose to change our eating habits ourself. If we introduce a fat tax, the stigma towards obese people will make it much harder for them to lose weight. If we introduce a fat tax, most people, that is the poorest, will be hit the hardest. If we introduce a fat tax, most people, that is people who eat responsibly will pay more, why? If we introduce a fat tax, lazy people who eat fast food regularly will still pay a little extra, and believe it is cheaper because they prefer to. Many thanks for having this debate, hope readers have found this debate interesting