Other studies have shown that healthy diet educational posters in supermarkets don't affect shoppers' choices, while price does. Clearly, more research must be done to test the fat tax idea in the real world. Price cuts encourage consumption of everything else, from health care to gasoline. A fat tax may backfire, just like other anti-obesity efforts. Or it may work, just like the cigarette tax.
Obesity damages society in ways that rival the hit from cigarette smoking.
About 300,000 Americans die annually from obesity-related illness, compared to about 434,000 for cigarette smoking.