Should your government place a tax on the junk food and fatty snacks?

Junk foods and fatty snacks are known causing factors in obesity and related health conditions. Taxing on such issues can be an effective way to reduce their consumption. Therefore, I am a pro-taxing in this regard.

The modern life style encourages people to seek for food stuffs that can be eaten in a short amount of time. Unfortunately, the majority of foods and snacks which fulfill this desire are those with high calorie contents. They contain a considerable amount of starch and fatty acids, specially unsaturated fatty acids. Since fat is one of the main ingredient that makes foods delicious, it is not surprising to see people enjoy fatty snacks a lot and have them more than the amount that their body actually needs. Receiving a huge amount of calories besides the sedentary life style, which is the undeniable product of modernity, leads to weight gain and obesity.

Heart attack is the leading cause of death worldwide. Diabetes has affected about a quarter of whole world population. Hypertension, called as the silent death, is a highly common disease among health care seekers. Obesity is a known causative factor for all these three diseases. The economical burden of chronic disease like the above-mentioned ones on national health system is mind blowing. In addition, consequent disabilities results in lower quality of lives among the patients and hinder them from being fully active work force in the society.

Moreover, obesity deteriorates the self-image and self-esteem of the over-weighted people. Thus, depression is fairly common among the obese. They usually try to hide themselves from the others. Becoming secluded, make them less active than their normally weighted peers. To make the situation worse, extra weight limits their physical activity. Therefore, obesity may disable a part of the population from being well productive.

Considering all the downfalls of obesity, taxing the fatty snacks and junk foods is a reasonable measure to restrict the consumption of them. The added tax will be a very fine price for promoting a nation in regard to the economical status. Thus, I strongly believe that the government should tax the fatty snacks and junk foods.