Back in 2009, I wrote about various schemes to impose taxes on unhealthy food. At the time, I was primarily concerned about the risks of giving politicians a new source of revenue that would be used to increase the burden of government spending.
The folks at Reason TV look at the issue from a different angle and explain how government anti-obesity efforts won’t achieve their supposed goals.
One of the frustrating aspects of this debate is that failure will be used to justify even more intervention (aka, Mitchell’s Law). Politicians in New York City have already banned bake sales, for instance, yet that didn’t stop Mayor Bloomberg from unleashing a nutty new plan to prohibit large sodas.
And as explained in the video, the statists will respond to the failure of current anti-obesity efforts by arguing they need even more power to control and tax. And when those new efforts fail, they’ll argue for additional authority. Lather, rinse, repeat.
P.S. I assume this cartoon was designed to show why a value-added tax is a bad idea, but it’s very appropriate for this topic as well.
P.P.S. This issue helps explain the dangers of government-subsidized healthcare. Politicians make taxpayers pick up the tab for other people’s medical expenses and then claim that they should have the power to regulate private behavior in order to reduce costs.
[…] A core libertarian principle is that people have the right to do whatever they want with their own bodies. And that includes things that may be harmful, such as taking drugs, smoking, and over-eating. […]
[…] want to tell us how to live our lives. But that’s not their job, even in cases where I agree with the underlying advice. Coerced good behavior is not a sign of […]
[…] want to tell us how to live our lives. But that’s not their job, even in cases where I agree with the underlying advice. Coerced good behavior is not a sign of […]
Yes, government MUST do something, that is get OUT of the way so that people can know and learn what they are eating number 1, and number 2,govenment MUST QUIT subsidizing garbage as food.
if government gets out of the business of controlling what we do and how we, eat, get paid, go to doctors, etc., etc. etc., when people are NOT warehoused and fed though subsidies etc. (and some concern themselves over chickens in too small cages????) when people have to provide for themselves etc. they will find the best way to eat and treat and be better off for doing so!
[…] part of the answer refers to whether the government somehow should get involved. I shared a great video from Reason TV several years ago that explained why paternalistic anti-obesity programs don’t work. And just […]
There is always in increasing trend in obesity these days as more and more people turn into a sedentary lifestyle.;
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[…] the absurdity of anti-obesity campaigns from the compulsive big spenders in […]