by Lynette Ayre

Created on: June 06, 2007   Last Updated: March 21, 2012

People keep voting to give away their rights. Do we really want to have our lives so controlled by Government?

Is the Government interested in tax for the health of the country, or more revenue? If they are seriously interested in your health then would it not be more productive to aim at producers and restrict the use of less desirable ingredients and additives?

Using the tobacco industry as an example, does the tax collected from that stop people smoking? Wouldn't people be more likely to stop if they had to grow their own? Or if they are not going to restrict the tobacco company owners right to business then they should be paying directly into the health sector.

No person has the right to create business interests at the expense of the quality of living of others.

Better education in schools about good food and how to cook it. Yes, how to cook it. There is a surprising number of people who don't know how to cook a basic meat and vegetable dinner. So how do their children learn?

Taxing junk food is not going to stop people buying fast-food because the main reason they buy it in the first place is because their lives are so busy. Traveling to work; working two or more jobs; organizing kids to and from school, and sports; outside interests or hobbies; meetings. In general, an over-committed day.

It is the younger generation growing up now that don't get to learn how to cook and so fall back on the readily available take-out meals. How is another tax, another cost, supposed to change this problem?

And the problem of obesity could be said to have been created by Government itself. The Health department bought into the idea that "if you eat too much fat you will get fat" theory and they came up with the food pyramid that you grew up with for 30 years that taught that your staple foods should be pasta, rice and bread and even soft drinks and fruit juices.

The rise in obesity has grown steadily since government health has pushed this recommended diet. Of course, now that pyramid has been replace with a healthier example, but how many people actually realize that?

Tax junk food? It could be called a tax on poor government decisions!

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