Friday, November 1, 2013

Bollocks

As in talking bollocks.
Apparently the people who can't mind their own business when it comes to what we do with our bodies have told the government that a 20% tax hike on certain soft drinks might make some people less fat.
Mail.
Slapping a 20 per cent tax on soft drinks would cut the number of fat Britons by more than a quarter of a million, claim experts.
Researchers say a price hike would drive down sales of the sugary beverages and therefore benefit the nation’s health.
A new study claims a 20 per cent tax on sugar-sweetened drinks would reduce the number of adults who are obese or overweight by 285,000.
In other words preparing the grounds for the government to raise revenue, the evidence is out there that raising taxes simply doesn't work and people will either carry on the same or find something else that they enjoy drinking/eating. It didn't work with cigarettes, it didn't work with alcohol and it won't work with fizzy drinks, it's simply an excuse to raise revenue. Indeed there's a direct correlation on the price of something going too high and people switching to illegal and untested substances when cigarettes became expensive. It even drove people into the hands of criminal gangs and I rather expect the man in a van who sells cheap ciggies and booze from France will add another sideline to his trade.
No, in this case as with most other cases involving the government raiding our pockets, the experts involved will simply be telling the government what they want to hear.
Nothing more, nothing less.

2 annotations:

Kath Lissenden said...

Unless they close every branch of Mcdonalds, Burger king, KFC and all other fast food outlets this is a total load of utter bollocks. Cutting the amount of sugary drinks is futile.
They also need to remember that many people are allergic to artificial sweeteners (me for one) and that these artificial sweeteners are Carcinogenic this has been proven time and time again. A tax on these drinks is just another way to make money, it's like more tax on fags and booze I am amazed this busy body do gooders havent taxed us all on butter yet!

Anonymous said...

and if this goes through whats next? A tax on butter,red meat, suger,coffee and anything else the medi-fascists decree is bad for us?