Part of The Student Room Group

  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

Would It Be Economically Beneficial to Britain to Introduce An Obesity Tax?

Extracts from this document...

Introduction

Would It Be Economically Beneficial to Britain to Introduce An Obesity Tax? Although obesity is a worldwide phenomenon in the 21st century, its impact varies between countries. Across the Channel in France less than one person in ten is obese, while in Japan it's less than one in twenty (see Figure 1 below). In England, at present 1 in 4 of all Britons have been declared medically obese - with obesity rates for both men and women surging in recent years (see Figure 2 below). It has recently been predicted by several tabloid newspapers and the BBC that - "Britain is an Obesity Time bomb"- 30th August 2009 (Sunday Express) with "Half of Britons Obese by 2050"-17th October 2007 (Daily Mail). However in this piece of coursework I intend to look at what has caused the rise in obesity over the last 50 years and whether an 'Obesity Tax' is a viable option. Ali Muriel - Taxing the Fat - 2005 - www.ifs.org.uk The Cause So why are the obesity rates in the UK rising at such an alarming rate? Many factors have been blamed such as the press, fast food outlets, TV's and a lack of exercise. However the implication seems to be that either people are getting hungrier (eating more) ...read more.

Middle

suggests that it is in fact the changes in the technology of food production. Up until the 1980's a large percentage of food was home cooked. However with the invention of the microwave and the introduction of new preservatives food is preserved and ready to cook immediately. This eliminates the time cost as most food is now pre-washed and vacuum packed; this advance is down to the division of labour making goods cheaper. This revolution in food preparation means that we can consume both greater quantities and a greater variety of food than ever before. This, coupled with the changes in the technology of work and computer-based jobs, has caused the rise in obesity. What can be done? Obesity has costs for the whole society. On an individual basis there is a cost to health in terms of increased risk of diabetes, stroke etc. For the wider society within England, the cost to the NHS of treating obesity-related health conditions is estimated to be rising as high as �6.3 billion by 2015 (http://www.healthcarerepublic.com/news/934442/Cost-obesity-NHS-England-rise-62-billion/). The government have tried public information campaigns and educating the public on how to lower the risk of obesity, however none of these have halted the increase and therefore I believe an 'Obesity Tax' should be introduced. ...read more.

Conclusion

Conclusion As can be seen on the table to the right the cost of obesity is rising and it needs to be subdued before the costs spiral out of control and it has an irreversible effect on the country. I have outlined above four options: 1) Taxing fat foods 2) Indirect taxation 3) Direct taxation 4) Tax reduction for company's or employees I believe that the best option would be the use of direct taxes coupled with the use of Tax reduction for companies or employees. The taxing of fat foods wouldn't work as people would still buy the food and therefore prices would need to rise to an extremely high price before people stopped buying them. However the use of tax reduction targets directly the employed and at the same time encourages the companies to think about their staff. If this measure proved successful the use of tax reduction on companies who use less saturated fats in their food could be introduced as this borrows some of the ideas from indirect taxation. The use of direct taxation would target the problem of obesity at the source (people who buy the fatty foods) and therefore would be a successful long term option to lower obesity and make it less financially viable for people to buy the food. At least until the companies themselves decrease the amount of fat in their products. ...read more.

The above preview is unformatted text

This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Economy & Economics section.

Found what you're looking for?

  • Start learning 29% faster today
  • 150,000+ documents available
  • Just £6.99 a month

or


Here's what a teacher thought of this essay

5 star(s)

This is an excellent piece of economic analysis. Although I fundamentally disagree with the practicality of the suggested solution I admire the arguments and analysis very much. It is systematically argued

Marked by teacher David Salter 12/02/2012

Not the one? Search for your essay title...
  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

See related essaysSee related essays

Related GCSE Economy & Economics essays

  1. How do economic systems solve the problem of scarcity?

    Thus, in the command economy, decision-making is a centralized process. The USSR and North Korea are examples of command economies.

  2. What are the important elements of International Trade

    The next topic being covered is Invisible Trade. Invisible trade is the trading of services between countries. The factors that make up invisible trade are; Travel, which is all about tourism, holidays and people bringing in money; Shipping, which is travelling between countries via sea; Civil Aviation, which is flying in an aircraft between countries transporting goods; Other Services, which is about royalty, e.g.

  1. Measurement of National Income, Strengths and Weaknesses of National Income Statistics.

    receipts from foreigners that correspond to goods and services produced abroard using factor inputs supplied by domestic sources. To convert from GDP to GNP you must add factor input payments to foreigners that correspond to goods and services produced in the domestic country using the factor inputs supplied by foreigners

  2. business studies nat dip level 3 unit 4

    The group now has over 400 stores and is continuing to grow. We inspire our people to reach for higher levels of performance. To achieve these standards we only recruit the best. All employees are highly skilled, self motivated and in constant pursuit of perfection.

  1. Discuss whether economic efficiency as described in text books is likely to be able ...

    Monopoly is a single firm that produces all the output in the market, set price and erects barriers to entry or there are already natural barriers to entry present. Allocative efficiency is concerned with the ideal quantity of goods produced that maximizes consumer satisfaction.

  2. Goodrich-RabobankInterest Rate Swap:

    Also, Rabobank had never borrowed in the Eurobond market prior to the deal with Goodrich, and Morgan. Since Rabobank conducted only small amount of dollar based business, and most of the dollar denominated assets were loans whose rates floated with LIBOR.

  1. A Summary of Chapters One and Two In The Book New Ideas From Dead ...

    He further argues that an economy should capitalize on the way the human mind works, harnessing its potential. He also points out that people do things only for themselves. When people in a market do things only for themselves, a phenomenon occurs Smith entitled the "invisible hand."

  2. China or India? Many companies ask themselves this question. Due to saturated markets, increasing ...

    Another issue is, if the huge central state is able to survive this or will the political development lead to a collapse. China has disputes with India and Pakistan over Kashmir, as well as with North Korea, Tibet, Vietnam and Taiwan, but there is no immediate threat.

  • Over 160,000 pieces
    of student written work
  • Annotated by
    experienced teachers
  • Ideas and feedback to
    improve your own work