If we tax the food that's making Americans fatter, the government can start fighting back. It's impossible to pinpoint a few food items and blame them for an individual's obesity when diets are comprised of hundreds or thousands of foods. Food choices are based on taste, not price, and a one-cent tax on a candy bar isn't going to dissuade anyone from eating it. In addition, the fat tax unfairly burdens the poor, who on average consume more food of low nutritive value than wealthier Americans. No one's talking about taxing other high fat or unhealthy foods.
Cheese has loads of fat.
All that caffeine can't be good for you. Suggest those taxes and the people would take up arms to defend their right to buy gourmet foods, but propose to tax certain foods and the nutrition nannies who want to dictate what the rest of us eat will back it. Overview of CSPI's proposal to tax junk food. The AOA is an organization dedicated to educating the public about obesity and its role in causing illness, and to helping health professionals provide the best possible care for people with obesity. Center for Science in the Public Interest CSPI, a public health advocacy group, supports a tax on junk food.