Sugar Tax

Pennywise

wotsthat wrote: »

At what point should poor fat people be allocated a slim middle class mentor?

The NHS doesn't "do" slim healthy staff though does it?

My current diabetic nurse is a right porker, as was my last dietician. They're hardly role models for giving out weight loss and healthy diet advice! Just walk the corridors of any GP surgery or hospital and you'll see grossly overweight staff waddling around.

wotsthat

mwpt wrote: »

Because it costs a lot of money in medical treatment caring for unhealthy people and I approve of any small measure that applies a disincentive to easily alterable lifestyle behaviour. How much these taxes work is up for debate but aside from that, it's nice (for me) that the people who partake in the optional behaviour contribute tax toward the resulting medical care.

For the same reasons I also approve of tax on tobacco and alcohol.

We could go on forever introducing taxes here and their because there's some behaviour or other we've decided we don't like. I'm not against taxes on sugar and tobacco per se but I fear people view them as an insurance policy when they present themselves at the doors of the NHS (I've paid in!). They should be purely an attempt to change behaviour for better health outcomes and completely unrelated to funding of healthcare.

I think if people had to pay for health care on a more risk-assessed basis it would have more impact. One of the consequences of a 'free' health care system is the costs of poor behaviour are socialised.

danothy

Generali wrote: »

Fat mentors for pregnant people and body builders now!

And me. I checked in at 25.1 this morning. How poor do I need to be?

Generali

danothy wrote: »

And me. I checked in at 25.1 this morning. How poor do I need to be?

I think you should weigh yourself before your morning cuppa and after you've had a dump.

I tried weighing myself every morning for a couple of months as the first thing I did after rising just as an experiment. The main thing that correlated with my weight? How much booze I had the night before. If I'd had a few beers then I woke up more dehydrated so weighed less!

A big night out on the razz should see you at 24.9!

mwpt

Pennywise wrote: »

There are suggestions that the soft drinks industry will simply "absorb" the tax by price increases across the board, which will do absolutely nothing to change behaviour.

Do we really think that the price of a can of coke will increase whilst diet coke stays the same? Dual pricing in shops, pubs, and fast-food outlets simply isn't going to happen is it?

In Maccy D's, Subway, etc., their "meal" price includes a drink - it can be tea/coffee, a carton of milk, a bottle or water, or something from the dispenser - how can they differentiate their pricing to account for someone choosing a "sugary" drink rather than milk, tea, water or diet coke?

If you order a rum & coke in a pub, are you really going to get charged a few pence more if you ask for proper coke rather than diet coke?

If there was ever a policy that hadn't a hope in hell's chance of working, it's this one!

Oh well, we get some extra tax to pay for the health care then.

PasturesNew

Pennywise wrote: »

Just walk the corridors of any GP surgery or hospital and you'll see grossly overweight staff waddling around.

Same with a lot of the Govt who dish out these rules.

cells

Pennywise wrote: »

There are suggestions that the soft drinks industry will simply "absorb" the tax by price increases across the board, which will do absolutely nothing to change behaviour.

Do we really think that the price of a can of coke will increase whilst diet coke stays the same? Dual pricing in shops, pubs, and fast-food outlets simply isn't going to happen is it?

In Maccy D's, Subway, etc., their "meal" price includes a drink - it can be tea/coffee, a carton of milk, a bottle or water, or something from the dispenser - how can they differentiate their pricing to account for someone choosing a "sugary" drink rather than milk, tea, water or diet coke?

If you order a rum & coke in a pub, are you really going to get charged a few pence more if you ask for proper coke rather than diet coke?

If there was ever a policy that hadn't a hope in hell's chance of working, it's this one!

The soft drink companies may opt to slightly re-jig their drinks to be under the 5% or 8% band.

Also how would the dispenser drinks work. They come in concentrated form something like 80% sugar and are then diluted with fizzy water to form the final product. Logically the 80% sugar mix would be taxed I cant see the dilution process being taxed and all the many thousands of fast food outlets signing up to this new duty. In which case the sugar soda sold in those places will pay 1/10th the tax of the bottles and cans

PasturesNew

My BMI is ~23.5. Not too shabby for an idle, pie-eating, sweetie chomping, cheesecake guzzler

Generali

cells wrote: »

The soft drink companies may opt to slightly re-jig their drinks to be under the 5% or 8% band.

Also how would the dispenser drinks work. They come in concentrated form something like 80% sugar and are then diluted with fizzy water to form the final product. Logically the 80% sugar mix would be taxed I cant see the dilution process being taxed and all the many thousands of fast food outlets signing up to this new duty. In which case the sugar soda sold in those places will pay 1/10th the tax of the bottles and cans

Nah, it'll be in the ready to drink form.

It'll be interesting when it comes to cordial. On the odd occasion I drink Ribena I drink it at a far higher level of concentration than Frucor recommend. I find it insipid at their recommended level.

Obvs the plural of anecdote isn't data but at the same time it's fair to say that just a glance at the back of a packet or tin of food shows you that recommended serving sizes are unlikely. A single, small biscuit? 1 little cocktail/silverskin pickled onion? 12 cans of Special Brew?

Most of those are listed as the serving size in my cupboard.

antrobus

Pennywise wrote: »

...Do we really think that the price of a can of coke will increase whilst diet coke stays the same? ....

Yes.

Pennywise wrote: »

....In Maccy D's, Subway, etc., their "meal" price includes a drink - it can be tea/coffee, a carton of milk, a bottle or water, or something from the dispenser - how can they differentiate their pricing to account for someone choosing a "sugary" drink rather than milk, tea, water or diet coke?....

I expect they'll manage somehow. Tesco already offer a 'Finest Meal Deal' where you have a choice between a bottle of wine that is subject to excise duty and a soft drink that doesn't. The tax is just another cost factor.

Pennywise wrote: »

...If you order a rum & coke in a pub, are you really going to get charged a few pence more if you ask for proper coke rather than diet coke?...

Don't see any reason why not. You're already likely to pay a different price depending on what kind of rum you order.