Stealth tax alert.

[matthopkins]

Im supposed to be working but seeing as im the boss, what the hell.

Just heard on the radio that the government will be raising the tax on certain foods to combat obbeseity (spelling?) these will include bread and items with an amount (not known how high) of sugar in them. This seems to me to be nothing more than a stealth tax which will affect everyones pocket because of others eating habbits.

looking back to a thread on here about warning signs this to me is a sign of coming price rises in our already high shopping costs, which will in turn lead to our money having to spread further.

[Devonian]

Its a (proposed) 'Sugar Tax' to make food with high sugar content more expensive to buy/manufacture.

The idea is make manufacturers cut down on the amount of sugar that is added to our foods, to create a healthier Britian, so not necessarily a bad tax.

[metatron]

Its a (proposed) 'Sugar Tax' to make food with high sugar content more expensive to buy/manufacture.

The idea is make manufacturers cut down on the amount of sugar that is added to our foods, to create a healthier Britian, so not necessarily a bad tax.

I have to agree, the UK has an obesity epidemic which is only getting worse. Something needs to be done about it and trying to get people to work out and eat less via ad's is not working. You can live on meat and veg very well, people eat to much junk food as its addictive and cheap. If companies want to continue making huge sums of money, they can re-engineer their products to be less unhealthy.

[matthopkins]

Its a (proposed) 'Sugar Tax' to make food with high sugar content more expensive to buy/manufacture.

The word proposed didnt come into it on the radio today and even so, why should it be more expensive for me to buy, im not fat i regulate what i eat?

Quote:
the UK has an obesity epidemic which is only getting worse: unquote

And so the nanny state starts here does it?

If your (not you personally ) an adult who is fat because they either eat too much or the wrong type of food how is going to help? The compaies will change sugar for sweetners, for example aspartimy (?) This is a known carsonagenic and believe it or not was used in the vietnam war as an anti foliant, agent orange. F***** if i want to be eating that.
Semi skimmed milk once the fat is removed is a grey colour, so what do they do; they add a dye to make it white because folk think milk is white. The same dye used in the paint thats on your walls and ceilings. Also a known cause of some cancers.

When i was a teen i was the short fat kid, you know the one; chunk out of the goonies ( no i wont do the truffle shuffle ) I was fat. Simple answer was I ate too much and didnt do any excercise. I didnt look for the government to sort out my problem, i did.
Ok the NHS is suffering because of the rising number of bariatric patiants but whose fault is it?
Why not tax the fat people seeking medical help for problems due to their weight?

So if this "propossed" tax is added at source and the makers of products simple say, what the heck, pass it on to the consumer; what then?
I tell you what happens, fat people carry on getting fat and the working class like you and I get less for our £££££ on the high street.

[redskies]

It would be an excellent start if NHS 'Change 4 Life' would stop giving out dodgy information!

http://armadillokerfuffle.blogspot.se/2 ... l-fat.html


All of the information in the studies linked to has been out there for a while, in some cases, years, and yet they're still banging on about the same old stuff.

The information is out there. There's no excuse for ignorance in the age of information technology. If you want to learn how to be healthy, you can. If you need to learn to cook from scratch, you can. Yet people continue to eat utter crap!

Eat fresh food cooked from scratch. Don't eat too much of anything. Too much of anything is bad for you, and that includes 'good' stuff like water. Get a decent amount of exercise. And stay away from fast food, it's full of rubbish and it's not good for you.

I have to be honest, I don't agree with this. I'm a big girl, I can choose what to eat, and it's my decision to make. It's everyone elses choice as well. This is just one more step on the road towards a real life Idiocracy!

[matthopkins]

This is just one more step on the road towards a real life Idiocracy!

At last, a bit of common sence.......thank you.

[Devonian]

Its a (proposed) 'Sugar Tax' to make food with high sugar content more expensive to buy/manufacture.

The word proposed didnt come into it on the radio today and even so, why should it be more expensive for me to buy, im not fat i regulate what i eat?

But the problem is how can you regulate your sugar intake when manufacturers are piling over 100% of your RDA into a loaf of bread or your favourite soup etc.

It is not necessarily going to increase food prices, but will help drive food manufacturers to produce healthier versions of the same foods.

Most manufactured food has liberal amounts of salt, fat and/or sugar added to it to simply improve the taste, but there are healthier ways of doing that.

[redskies]

Perhaps, then, folks could stop buying the stuff?

Just a thought!

[Devonian]

Perhaps, then, folks could stop buying the stuff?

Just a thought!

Well for those who work full time, its not so easy is it as its just not practical to prepare meals everyday from scratch using raw ingredients (which is the only way to avoid it) - do you knead and raise your own dough, before baking your own bread 3 times a week??

As for those who don't work, or are low income, well they will usually be buying the cheapest foods available (because of circumstances) and then that food will probably be full of crap.

So what is so wrong with Government taking action (for once) to kick food producers up the arse with a view to making them cut out some of the unnecessary crap that they are adding to our foods????

[redskies]

OH does the bread making. He's pretty good at it too.

We both work full time. In fact, through the tourist season, so six months, I work 16 - 18 hours a day, 7 days a week. OH works from home, and is often up into the wee sma's on skype to the states.

Anyone can grow at least some of their own veg. Anyone can learn how to cook cheaply, from scratch with fresh ingredients. It's entirely possible, and if you're not working, then you can turn that time into something useful, like food that isn't laden with crap.

We're a family of six. Our weekly food bill is between £100 - £140. Taking the higher end, that's just over £23 per person, per week for good, fresh food cooked from scratch. Or just over £1 per head, per meal. We eat home made risotto, thai chicken, fry up once a week, a proper one, and all sorts of other good stuff. It CAN be done.

To turn the question around, why shouldn't folks take responsibility for themselves? Why shouldn't they shoulder that, learn what's good and what's not, get up off their backsides and do things properly? Why on earth should we end up with blanket legislation that once more treats us like kids, incapable of making choices for ourselves? Not only that, but look how wrong the government sanctioned NHS is on its dietary advice. Frankly, I'd rather take my chances; I wouldn't trust them to organise mass inebriation in a fermentation facility. I certainly don't trust them to tell me what's healthy and what's not - for a start, if you listen to them tell you everything that's not healthy, you'll never eat or drink again, never mind breathe!

We need balanced diets, a little bit of everything, and everything in moderation. As my Granny would say, ''a little of what you fancy does you good.''

The biggest problem is NOT a lack of legislation. It's a lack of will power on the part of the folks that buy this stuff. You can bulk buy, cook off and freeze a weeks meals in a few hours. You can use a crock pot to cook your food while you're out through the day - hell, you can even make bread in a crock pot! You can also buy things like tomato seeds very cheaply from companies like Real Seeds - and you can save those seeds. You can *always* grow something. There's also quite a lot of veg that can be grown from what you'd usually throw away. You can even root a pineapple top - and yes, they will grow here, the Victorians grew them, outside of glasshouses.

Let people be responsible for themselves, because it's the only way to learn. Legislation is not required. People taking responsibility for themselves, their choices and their actions is. This is on a par with ''we need safety legislation for hair straighteners because toddlers are being burned'' - and each child was burned because an idiot parent left a hot device where the child could get to it!