Honestly, I'm sat here watching Sky news and there's a couple of health experts on there suggesting that they're going to try and push forward a 20% tax on fizzy drinks. what a bunch of selfish wankers. theyre obviously pointing towards the obesity problem but what annoys me is that it directly impacts millions of family's once again that are just trying to get on with their own lives and are perfectly healthy themselves. me personally I don't drink lots of fizzy drinks, if I do I always go for the zero or diet if zero doesn't exist. So why tax all fizzy drinks down to obesity? Surely you should tax the manufacturers at source on every full sugar drink they produce, equally offer a small tax break on every 'zero' / Diet version they produce? Thus you effect the market and drive them towards sugar free alternatives and lower calorie items. I just don't know how these people dare stand there and tell people how to live their own lives, especially as they're no doubt in well paid job positions and the people they directly effect are trying to make ends meet as it is. im just sick of people so out of touch with society making all the decisions and ones that are so obviously not designed for anything other than recouping money in a tax.
I for one am totally fed up with being saved from myself. I'm beginning to wonder what to do and where to go to avoid being told how to eat, shit and breathe.
Don't for one second think they're doing it through some dillusional plan to save us from ourselves. They're doing it to get more tax money, and that is the sole reason for doing it. They couldn't give a flying fuck whether we live or die.
Fig is on the nail, t's all about the lolly! The trick with tax is to load the price up juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust enough so people moan but keep buying, but not too much so they stop. If they were serious they'd make it 100% or more...Same with fags, booze, speeding fines and on and on....
in the local coop, next to high school, a can of coke,muffin and pack of crisps is cheaper than a pre packd sarny on its own.
Why should I pay more tax, as a slim and trim 47yr old, for my coke just because all you fat feckers cant leave the pies alone? Outrageous! :biggrin:
It is yet more of the nanny state culture with taxation seen as the big stick to hit people with to modify behaviour. That it will hit poor families the hardest doesn't register with our overlords. As an aside I NEVER eat or drink anything with Low Fat, Lite or Diet on the label. The sugar and or fat is usually replaced with something else equally as bad, or worse, to retain flavour. We are a nation of fat bastards though and sugary drinks are a major factor.
This thread seems rather muddled and obscure. Let's try to comb out some of the threads a bit. Value Added Tax is a tax on all goods and services supplied in the UK (20%) and across Europe. Exceptionally, some services are exempt or outside the scope. And also exceptionally some goods and services are zero rated (0%) or taxed at a lower rate (5%). Goods which are exceptionally 0% include most food and drink, but there are some exceptions to the exceptions - i.e. some types of food and drink which are 20% after all. The definitions of where the lines are drawn for the exceptions (and the exceptions to the exceptions) have always been very contentious. They have often been changed in the annual Finance Acts, etc. The OP seems to be about VAT on drinks. Roughly speaking, milk, water, and unprocessed fruit juice are 0% (pasteurising doesn't count as processing). Processed drinks including sweetened drinks are 20%. Sugar itself is 0% but products sweetened with sugar are 20%. If the suggestion is that sugary drinks ought to be taxed at 20%, well they are already so the proposal seems meaningless. Or is the suggestion that there should be a special higher rate of VAT at 40%? That would be a pretty unpopular move, not to say illegal. Perhaps the "health experts" in the OP are unaware of how tax works. Or maybe they have been misrepresented. Who knows?
Can't they just tax the fatties? slim person buys fizzy pop, £1, fatty buys fizzy pop, £1.20. Thread closed.
Thanks appreciate the detail added in and agree that 40% seems a bit serious!! Let's hope not. I lost 4 1/2 stone a few years ago, I was 'only' 17.5 stone, so not exactly like I was in the 20's but still over weight for my 6ft frame. I did it because I 'wanted' to do it so I do agree with people on here who say that they are slightly sick of being 'saved' from themselves. Put it this way, if I see a really trim and healthy lad/lass out running or whatever I think to myself that they have drive to try and better themselves, it makes me think that I should aspire to do that. I don't want to not drink beer or eat chocolate because it's being taxed so much, more that my in-built 'education' should allow me to make informed choices... wow.. that's a ramble!
I think this needs to be broader (no pun intended but hey). Just tax people who are fat more tax for everything. After all they take up 2 seats on trains and buses etc. Plus the burden on NHS for obesity. Also they require more material for their clothing and women who are fat think that wearing leggings with skirts looks good. Tax em. If theyve less money they may eat less pies and thus reduce their tax burden. Of course I jest.
No, the 'health experts', published in the BMJ, were looking into a proposal to tax sugary drinks as a matter of public health policy. It is nothing about VAT which is only coincidentally set at 20%. Overall and income specific effect on prevalence of overweight and obesity of 20% sugar sweetened drink tax in UK: econometric and comparative risk assessment modelling study | BMJ
They should base it like they do with car tax. For every point above your BMI they you pay extra and like wise if you smoke or drink to much
