Obesity tax

[Duskygrin]

Day of days, joy of joys, with luck a law will be passed taxing - ie, 19.6% VAT - BURGERS, SODAS and SNACKS of all kinds inducing OBESITY.

Persons of consequence, beware! You'll soon get thinner than you think.

*sings*

I've seen the other side to being thin
Roll us both down a mountain and the fat man will win.

[F@ BANKZ]

It sounds like a good idea to me, but it needs more irony.

That should do it.

[Duskygrin]

Note that France isn't the most obesus-ridden place. But, being a civilised country - of sorts - vending machines replete with M&Ms and other chemical shite are just everywhere. This-has-got-to-stop! Junk food's prices must quintuple! Fatties, you shall learn to lust after a small helping of broccoli! *grits fangs*

[JohnnyNemesis]

I can only hope that the "young women who look like old ladies" tax that I've heard so much about gets passed soon too.

[sKratch]

I thought this would be different and got all ready with a "The burden should be on the government to provide affordable healthy foods to citizens!" stint. It being (1) France, and (2) unclear to me exactly how it works, my stint is irrelevant ;o

[Duskygrin]

Well, yeah, food costs lots. And it's gonna cost more and more. It's gonna be the one bone of contention at UN meetings in a decade or so. But it's rather smirk-triggering to see the gvt has no clue how to tackle the obesity-phenomenon and resorts to... taxes. The VAT is the worst tax, because it hits mostly the poor, and is indirect. But... I don't pass laws. *shrugs* And anyway the budget-deficit is still abysmal, really. But saying the onus is on the authorities to regulate price of healthy foodstuffs? That's innocence!

[Sunny]

I can only hope that the "young women who look like old ladies" tax that I've heard so much about gets passed soon too.

*chokes*

hrrrm. anyways. my problem with this is simple: fast food is cheap, quick and readily available. yes, there are people who indulge in it because they just looooove it so much, but there are MANY people who 1) can't afford to buy better food and 2) work long hours, so they don't have the time to prepare meals from scratch from cheap, fresh ingredients. and as we all know, healthy prepared meals in the EU are outrageously fucking expensive.

so, in short, this idea blows. good intentions, sure, but there's more to successful legislations than just good intentions... amirite?

[Duskygrin]

I forgot to mention sandwiches are gonna be taxed too.

Not that I care, I don't eat when I'm not at work, and at work, I eat a three-course meal for 2 €. I'm being forcefully fed for working.

*dances gig*

[Sunny]

well, not everyone is quite so fortunate, Maria.

[Duskygrin]

that shrewd yet simple conclusion astounds me.

well since you so know the inner workings of politics maybe you'd care to explain... why it actually came to that? *lopsided smile*

after all, if junk food costs more, it will be a deterrent to budget-strapped folks, no? bringing its price on a par with healthier stuff?

lol amirite, as you're wont to say?

[sKratch]

that shrewd yet simple conclusion astounds me.

well since you so know the inner workings of politics maybe you'd care to explain... why it actually came to that? *lopsided smile*

after all, if junk food costs more, it will be a deterrent to budget-strapped folks, no? bringing its price on a par with healthier stuff?

lol amirite, as you're wont to say?

lol@u

You're saying RAISING THE PRICE of affordable food to that of unaffordable food will encourage people to pay for things they can't afford?

Hmmm...

[Duskygrin]

people can afford food in france, my dear, people don't work till they're 80 by the roadside in burger-joints, in france, my dear.

[Jesus]

Good news, about time there was some differentiation in vat levels (doubt it will get passed though, farmers are probably opposed to it) to keep health care costs in check.

[Duskygrin]

Hmm. Mayyyyyyyybe it'll pass. After all, they're gonna pass a law that in effect will scrap the 35h week.

After that, anything is possible - a simple explanation for the evil in this world.

[Jesus]

Yeah but that's what business and the neo-libs want. I doubt they want higher vats. I also doubt Sarko cares about saving health care.

[Duskygrin]

Sarko would clutch at anything that will raise budget revenues, however slight the margin may be. But you're right, there's no telling how events will unfold. You seem informed about France? I thought you were American? I'm confused... anyway, yes, I believe 19.6% is the higest VAT rate we've got. Usually it's 5.5%, applicable on normal food products and first-necessity items.

[Jakebert]

Brianna is going to be stoked at this news.

[Jesus]

I'm Belgian. Your vat rates are a bit lower compared ours. Here it's 0% for newspapers, 6% for stuff like food, 12% for only a couple things and 21% for the rest.

[Little_Miss_1565]

Maria, only eating 5 days a week is not generally considered healthy. Your attitude towards people who aren't stick-thin is kind of appalling.

[Duskygrin]

... begging your pardon? I used to fast sometimes one day a week, but now people cook for me, ha. But MY easting-habits, however atrocious they may be, have nought to do with the French gvt passing a law. Plus cereal cost a max of 4€. Eating at McDonald's, LOTS more. And you can live off cereal for a long time, believe you me. People just prefer burgers and Mars bars. Hence the putative higher VAT. QED.

Sorry Jesus, didn't know... about the Belgian nationality. I suddenly comprehend why you know about France. *drums fingers apologetically* There's supposedly some Europe harmonisation regarding VATs, but ain't nowhere near sufficient. Though I'm not sure I'm ok about harmonisation. For instance, wrt agricultural policies: how in hell is that supposed to work out, when the arable lands are different in quality, when practices and eating habits differ, when farmers' needs aren't the same from one end of Europe to another? I was against the euro in the first place... all of this Europe unity was initially to avoid WW3, but it's been put in place by technocrats with the flimsiest consideration to national interests. I was part of the people who voted NO in the referendum. Who feared the Bolkenstein directive and quailed at the thought of the dreaded Polish plumber. And I don't want Turkey in.

But I digress?

[Jesus]

VAT for Mcdonalds etc is already 19.6% I think, because it's a service. Atleast here it is the highest rate (restaurants, fast food places etc). Only food in supermarkets etc has the lowest rate.
And I'm pretty much as Pro EU as you can get, so I won't say anything about the rest. I'll just say this: if people vote for rightwing blowhards in most of Europe you get rightwing policies at the EU level. Same if they vote for lefties. These policies should have little to do with being pro or anti EU imo.

[Little_Miss_1565]

... begging your pardon? I used to fast sometimes one day a week, but now people cook for me, ha. But MY easting-habits, however atrocious they may be, have nought to do with the French gvt passing a law.

I never said it was your eating habits and the law, it was your attitude towards "fatties" that was appalling. Why do you care so much waht other people eat? Also, what you said earlier makes it sound like you eat a lot less often than what you just said.

Not that I care, I don't eat when I'm not at work, and at work, I eat a three-course meal for 2 €. I'm being forcefully fed for working.

[Duskygrin]

L-M: at work that makes one big meal a day. Jockey's diet for you.


You're lucky when you don't get all the gvt you paid for, is my op.

Well I've kinda noticed since the introduction of the € the purchasing power of your general housewife has sort of, like, plummeted. How much is actually due to the € I'm not certain, but all the rounding up was done not to the gen public's advantage, that's for sure.

Leftwing, rightwing, where's the diff? Here we had Mitterrand in the 80s, supposedly leftwing, but when the time comes to implement supply-side policies, well, lo and behold and you've got yourself a turncoat. During the presidential campaign - the last Sarko one - Sarko was being such an extremist that you could see the pinkos getting more left-of-centre than pure left. I voted for Bayrou anyway; he got massacred.

You mean McDo was taxed same as a restaurant? Still leaves snacks and candies and sodas, but I'd have thought I actually read that burgers were also going to be hallmarked. I'd have read wrong, then... have to expect it'll still be all over the frontpages for some time though, so I'll have plenty of time to read right.

As for Europe: voting "no" to that fated referendum nearly cost me a friendship :( I'd say France population is evenly divided towards pro and con voters.

[ilovellamas]

Brianna is going to be stoked at this news.

Argh! Upon reading the first post, I was gonna reply with, "And you guys thought I hated fat people!"

Fuck you.

[HornyPope]

I think obesity is a problem. In fact, I don't like fat people, but you knew that. My personal opinion is everybody should look after himself. I'm not saying be conscious of your image all the time, but I believe in a healthy lifestyle and watching people degrade to the point of fatness is the opposite of my views.

However, I don't want obesity to be handled by the government in any way. I believe in the separation between our Diets and the State. I also don't like taxation as a deterrent policy. I hate consumerism and the financial system with a passion so I don't want to fight social ills such as obesity with more twisted applications of consumerist and fiscal policies.

[Duskygrin]

Obesity soared with introduction of junk food here in France, and it's now putting health care system in jeopardy so how would you or anyone fight this plague? If fast food joints were driven out of business and if vending machines and snacks were outlawed it'd be one huge step, however in poorer countries such as Morocco bread costs peanuts and fattens the millions of poor there... sad, sad evil.

[HornyPope]

I understand that you're concerned with the taxes you have to pay for the ills of others but I suggest you don't worry too much about it. Life is not fair. You just worry about your life and be thankful you're not one of the fat ones.

[Sunny]

I was part of the people who voted NO in the referendum. Who feared the Bolkenstein directive and quailed at the thought of the dreaded Polish plumber. And I don't want Turkey in.


anyone else lol heartily at this?

hey Maria, i'm in ur EU, taking ur jerbz!

[sKratch]

anyone else lol heartily at this?

hey Maria, i'm in ur EU, taking ur jerbz!

No but I just loled at what you said.

[HeadAroundU]

OMG, fat kills tax!!1 <3

[Vera]

I imagine Sunny dressed up like Mario (sans moustache, maybe), walking around in Paris like "hai gaiz, i can has your jobz!".

Dreaded Polish plumber! Rawr eat you!

[Duskygrin]

The last few posts are reeking uninformation. So here's the deal.

The Polish plumber phrase, a phrase which you will have certainly come across in magazines like The Economist, or any decent newspaper that doesn't only deal with celebrities, encompassed the - foreseen - effect of the Bolkenstein directive, which did not come into force eventually, but whereby a person from another country of the EU with a different minimum wage - or no minimum wage at all - could come into France and be employed at the rate of his country of origin's. Thereby driving French folks out of business, since the French minimum wage is obviously superior to the Polish ot the Czech or the Slovene one. Nobody would have wanted to employ a French person when you could employ a Polish man for half the price.

The French outcry was too great for the directive to be passed.

[IamSam]

But you still have that gay 35 hour work week. What are us workaholics supposed to do?

[Duskygrin]

Nobody forbids anyone to work 60 hours a week. I work 40. It's just you garner some vacation days which you are compelled to take at the end of each calendar year, else they're not refunded to you - normal holidays are if you don't take them.

But that system is liable to be abolished soon, as I was saying in an earlier post.

Also, we're among the most efficient of Europeans. We do not have small breaks during the day. So that accounts for everything not falling apart due to shorter hours or somesuch.

[IamSam]

Nobody forbids anyone to work 60 hours a week. I work 40. It's just you garner some vacation days which you are compelled to take at the end of each calendar year, else they're not refunded to you - normal holidays are if you don't take them.

But that system is liable to be abolished soon, as I was saying in an earlier post.

Also, we're among the most efficient of Europeans. We do not have small breaks during the day. So that accounts for everything not falling apart due to shorter hours or somesuch.

Fair enough. Thanks for the info.

[Jesus]

The Polish plumber phrase, a phrase which you will have certainly come across in magazines like The Economist, or any decent newspaper that doesn't only deal with celebrities, encompassed the - foreseen - effect of the Bolkenstein directive, which did not come into force eventually, but whereby a person from another country of the EU with a different minimum wage - or no minimum wage at all - could come into France and be employed at the rate of his country of origin's. Thereby driving French folks out of business, since the French minimum wage is obviously superior to the Polish ot the Czech or the Slovene one. Nobody would have wanted to employ a French person when you could employ a Polish man for half the price.


Pretty much but what you describe was already a changed version. His original plan was completely insane. The country of origin actually had to do the inspections for regulations, minimum wages etc too.

So a comparable US version would be: American companies are allowed to hire Mexican or Guatemalan workers, ship'm over for a couple weeks. Doesn't have to care about the US minimum wages in the US. If somebody thinks that company is not following regulations in regard to their Mexican workers then inspectors from Mexico must do the inspections. Basically every right wing libertarian fantasy put together.

I hate that guy.

[JohnnyNemesis]

Let the bears pay the bear tax, etc etc etc, hilarity.

[Jakebert]

I pay the Homer tax.