Fat Tax Essay

Government intervention has often been loathed in many instances throughout history through tax resistance. Stretching from ancient to recent history, the governed have often resisted unfair and costly taxes enforced by those of authority. This pattern extended from taxes such as the Stamp Act and Sugar Act from the Revolutionary War to post Greco–Persian War Taxes which soon led to the fall of the Persian Empire. The use of a similar tax, a "fat tax", is now being debated between the walls of Congress. This fat tax would be met with much resistance and would have many unintended repercussions. Although a fat tax would aid in deterring many from some unhealthy foods, introducing this tax would result in a heavy societal tax and be maladdressing this sensitive and complex issue....show more content... Yet the problem lies in, not the idea, but the practicality, application, and implications of such a tax. The tax on these "fatty foods" would face many questions such as which foods would be considered fatty. Considering that the foods that would be taxed would be those high in fat, the type of fat would be another question which arises. According to Laura Salahi, foods such as nuts that are high in unsaturated fat provide many benefits such as the lowering of blood pressure and the reduction in the risk of heart disease, while Dr. Walt Willett further stated that unsaturated fats eaten in moderation may even help lead to healthy weight loss. Additionally, the failure of a fat tax can be seen in a country such as Denmark who instituted their fat tax on saturated fats

Get more content

Fat Tax It is well known that obesity has a negative impact on human health. However, few think about the fact that population obesity also causes sizable expenses for the global economy. Some of the consequences of population obesity are reduced work productivity, higher transportation costs, as a result of higher fuel consumption, rising medical expenses, and high correlation with income inequality. Obviously, with such a costly impact, the problem of excess weight can no longer be considered a purely private matter, so a group of US scientists is now studying how to help Americans reduce the costs associated with being overweight. One solution to excess weight is a tax on foods that contribute to obesity: sugary drinks and fast food....show more content...

Would it be supported by society? "One in three Americans believe that obese people should pay more in taxes according to a national survey conducted by polling service Phalanx Investment Partners LLC. Additionally, a higher percentage of Americans believe we should tax obese people than feel higher taxes should be levied on high–fat and high–sugar foods."() The fact that taxing the obese could garner the support of nearly forty percent of Americans in a country where approximately seventy five percent of the population is overweight is surprising. In other words, it is not just thin people who think those, who consume more healthcare services as a result of their overweight status, should pay more into the system, in order to close the gap between the health care expenses generated and the price paid for those services by the overweight. Despite the merits of this argument I believe weight–based taxation is a bad idea. First, we do not have a universal tool to determine the impact of obesity on work efficiency. There is the Body Mass Index, but it does not include important variables such as blood pressure, age, and gender. Therefore, it cannot be used as an accurate indicator of the overall health of a

Get more content

Fat Tax: Unintended Consequences Of Obesity

The fat tax as a surcharge is placed on unhealthy foods and drink in trying to overcome increasing obesity rates.For the population of overweight people has expanded rapidly and the increase of the health implications in recent decades, obesity has become a growing global health issue.According to the WorldHealth Organization (WHO) provides the facts on obesity , including that in the year 2005 about 1.6 billion adults were overweight and the amount obese children who were under five years old was at least 2 billion in the world.The consequences of obesity also shown by the WHO, which mainly about the health impacts such as contributing to the risk of the coronary heart disease and musculoskeletal disorders.(Shah,2010) To alleviate this problem , an increasing number...show more content...

(Mytton et al_2012) However, some products could be deemed unhealthy, when they're not.It is difficult to tell what kind of food would deserve a fat tax, since a lot of healthy products can be unhealthy if they are consumed in large amounts, but incredibly healthy when consumed properly. One of these examples is cheese, and there would certainly be a debate as to whether or not cheese would get the fat tax.Additionally ,there are many researches have found that it failed to change people's eating habits and even led to serious impacts which causes the threat of job losses. One example of this is Denmark, which drops a tax which imposed in 2011 on foods with a high fat content because it would be ineffective, unfair, and damage the industry, leading to lost jobs. (Stafford Get more content

Fat Tax

It is often said that people who suffer from obesity usually experience an eating disorder, or depression. My whole life I have heard that people who are obese, are obese because of their genes. The discussion of whether there be a fat tax for being overweight in the United States, one controversial issue has been the discrimination of these people. On the other hand, obesity contends an unneeded taxation due to people not being able to control their weight. Others even maintain raising junk food prices. My own view is to not tax these people, because everyone should be treated equally. Although there are many reasons why a person could get taxed on, a future reason why a person might get taxed is for being obese. Raising the prices

Get more content

Although, fat tax could have its cons it would really help the obesity rate in America. What is obesity? Obesity is illness when one suffers from having excess body fat from genetics or bad dieting. (Obesity action). Many health conditions play a huge factor in obesity such as, heart diseases, strokes, diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol. There is many things that causes one to be obese. Perhaps the environment one keeps themselves in! If they are used to a fast paced lifestyle, always on the go then they are prone to eat unhealthy because they won't have time to cook. Let alone getting any exercise, because no one walks to places anymore we drive and that allows us easier access to fast food. Also if they live in a poor and depressive

Today's world is full of modern conveniences. Communication is at the touch of a button, you can drive right to the window and get handed a greasy, hot meal, and even walking has become bothersome. Trying to find that spot closest to the door is worth driving around the lot five times. Kids play more in virtual reality than outdoors, and parents who are strapped for time settle on quick, processed meals for dinner. Unfortunately, we've created an environment fit for the lazy. Instead of having to preform physical activities to function throughout the day, we must find time for physical activity, which might not be realistic for everyone. The fast food industry and quick processed dinners feed the consumer with no time for exercise, and the...show more content...

For example, a person could weigh 200 lbs at 5 feet and their BMI would be 39.1, while obesity is a BMI of 30 and above. But what if that person were a short body builder? BMI doesn't take into account the weight of muscle or bone density. Body shape is also of some importance; if someone has 50 extra pounds in their thighs they are at less risk for heart disease than someone with 50 extra pounds in their waist. Visceral fat, or fat located directly around the organs, is linked to many risk factors including insulin resistance. 26 million people in America have diabetes, and 90% – 95% of those are type two. According to the American Diabetes Association, 85.2% of people with type two diabetes are overweight. Economic costs of obesity are increasing and will continue to do so if nothing is done. Healthy Communities for A Healthy Future state that the estimated annual health care costs related to obesity are 190 billion dollars. This is 21% of total health care costs. This includes direct costs, such as preventive and treatment services, while indirect costs include income lost to days debilitated or future income lost to death. On an individual level, an obese person will cost 42% more in health care than a person of healthy weight. A tax directly related to products known to cause obesity would offset the cost of health care, and hopefully result in less obesity in the Nation. Deciding which foods would be taxed is a difficult process.

Get more content

ABSTRACT

Obesity is an epidemic that is sweeping the United States at a rapid speed, and it kills. Obesity is responsible for killing more people than anything else, except for smoking. It affects people of all ages, races, income levels, and geographic locations. Obesity brings with it a myriad of problems that the individuals who suffer from it face, as well as social problems that are felt by people in all walks of life. There are astronomical costs that are attributed to it, being paid by society in the form of medical fees, unemployment benefits, and other miscellaneous costs. This report proposes that these costs and problems need to be addressed, and one avenue through which they can be is a junk food tax. This report...show more content...

However, these issues will be positively affected by this proposal as well.

It is also important to note that this problem is not isolated to a specific group of individuals, although there are groups that are higher risk than others. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), anyone can become obese but "...the risk for becoming overweight and obese tends to be higher among members of racial and ethnic minority populations such as African Americans and Hispanic Americans. In addition, the disease tends to be more common among individuals of lower socio–economic status" (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2005). This indicates that there are groups whose members are more likely to become obese. Because of the trend for junk food to cost less than more healthy alternatives, those who have less access to financial resources are more likely to be come obese.

As serious as obesity is, this issue is not a new one for our nation. Obesity has been a problem that has been addressed and studied since before the early 1930s, when doctors began to see a link between obesity and shorter life span (Pool, 2001, p. 7). Since then, and most noticeably in the last twenty years, obesity has swept our nation to become a condition that plagues more than 60 million adults in America, nearly one in three adults in this country (Figure 1). Jessica Bazzi, RN, stated that in

It was 3:30 a.m. and I was in the school convenience store browsing around for a couple of minutes before deciding to buy beef jerky, Chex mix and an entire can of Pringles. I awoke in the afternoon to discover that I had already eaten everything I bought that morning except for five Pringles. If it is not apparent already, like most college students, I do not eat terribly healthy. Unfortunately, a lot of Americans also do not eat very healthy either and this is causing our government to propose many possible solutions. One of these solutions is a "Fat Tax" where the government levies an additional tax on unhealthy food. However, there are many obstacles baring its way to law. While there are reasons that a fat tax might be a good idea,...show more content...

"The State of Massachusetts passed the first comprehensive U.S. food law in 1785" (Levenson). There would be benefits to some individuals if a charge on unhealthy foods was implemented. The whole idea behind this tax is to force the citizens of America to eat healthier and to make better lifestyle choices and this could come as a great boon to America because one study found that 85% of Americans think obesity is an epidemic (Mello). Because this is a tax it obviously catches the eye of law makers who must find a way to balance their respective budgets in today's crumbling economy. According to a public radio station in New York City, WNYC, a proposed "fat tax" on soda pops and sugary drinks this year would bring in $465 million for a state with a $7.4 billion deficit (Lawmakers). Another reason why people are proposing to impose a tax on unhealthy foods is because they believe that obese Americans are clogging ourhealth care system. It is true that overweight people do increase health care spending, although only in the short term. A study was done where they investigated the short and long term health care costs of standard–weight and overweight people. In this study they found that a lot of obese people would increase the amount of money spent on health care by society now. Nevertheless, overweight people would use less money on health care, altogether, than a healthy person because the overweight people have a decreased life expectancy ("Does

Benefits Of A Fat Tax Essay

Every lunch time as I survey the dining hall I see the same thing without fail: pies, wedges and fizzy drinks. One in three New Zealanders (aged 15 and over) are obese and a further 34% are overweight (Ministry of Health, 2013). Some people believe that the way to solve this ever–growing obesity problem is to introduce a fat tax. However, New Zealand should not introduce a fat tax as it would be unfair, as those who are not obese would be forced to bear the costs, regressive, as it would mainly affect poorer and older consumers, and ineffective, as there is no research to suggest that it works. Opponent's position My opponent believes that a fat tax would redistribute consumption away from unhealthy food and towards healthy foods, and raise tax money that could be spent on promoting health (Creighton, 2010). Opponents believe that the fat tax will move people away from unhealthy foods because the higher the tax on an item, the less appealing it is (Creighton, 2010). For example if a soft drink cost $3.00 and the tax took it up to $4.00, fewer consumers should buy this product. My opponent also believes that revenue gained from a fat tax could be put toward health promotion, which could help fight the obesity problem. This could also help save money as up to $624 million dollars a year is spent on obesity in New Zealand (Foroughian, 2010). Limitations to opponent's positionThere are a number of limitations to my opponent's point of view. Firstly, the major flaw in their Get

Every time you walk into a grocery store you see hundreds of different types of unhealthy foods like chips, cookies, cakes waiting for you to buy and eat. But most people forget that those types of foods are not good for you. Since there is such a huge variety of delicious food items on sale at the store we do not look at the bad consequences that we have to face after eating them. Because of the unhealthy eating habits of citizens in the United States, there has been a drastic increase in obesity. That is why I think that it is very necessary to enforce a fat tax on fatty foods to ensure that all the citizens of the United States are eating healthy foods on a daily basis.

First of all, there are many health problems caused by eating...show more content...

According to economic help, having a fat tax can help raise revenue for the government. This money will help the government financially and help them make the country a better and efficient place to live. Not only will it help the government, it will help the people in the United States. It will reduce the amount of money spent on healthcare each year. According to CMS (here), our National Healthcare Expenditure (NHE) is projected to hit $3.207 trillion this year. This tells us that Americans spend a lot of money on healthcare. If we add a fat tax on unhealthy foods we can cut down a lot of money that we spend on healthcare. This will not only benefit us it will also ensure that people in the United States are having a healthy and nutritious diet. Besides, there are about eight other countries that have a fat tax and they seem to be doing very well. Their health care cost has gone down and their fitness level has gone up. According to Economics Help, if people are healthy and fit it can actually raise the economy because people will be more active and they will take very few leaves which will increase production. Many people are worried that there will be a loss of jobs if a fat tax is applied, but in reality, it could help the economy and make the people living in the United States

Get more content

Fat Taxes Should Be Imposed On Unhealthy Foods

Jacqueline Patino Erin Hellweg English 102–G2 April 27, 2015, 2015 Fat Tax "Obesity in the U.S. is now at epidemic proportions. As Americans have increased their girth, rates of obesity–related illness such as heart disease and diabetes have also skyrocketed. Children and teenagers are joining the ranks of the overweight and obese in greater numbers too. And they are at much higher risk than ever before for obesity–related diseases" (O'Brien 9). America is being attacked by fast food and sugary foods and to control this problem the government wants to regulate our wallets. A fat tax is a tax applied to unhealthy foods, such as candy, fast food, or soda, to discourage consumers from ingesting foods that are not good for their health. The problem with obesity is that unhealthy food is much less expensive than healthy food. Some individual's might argue that everyone is responsible for what they consume and not the products. To encourage healthy eating, higher taxes should be imposed on unhealthy foods because the percentage of obese people in the U.S. has been increasing at an alarming rate, children are at risk of obesity and obesity is affecting the low–income population. Being overweight can cause many health problems, but not everyone may present them. If an individual has a family with a history of health problems, than the risk may increase. Being obese means that people weight about 20% more than what they are supposed to according to their height. While many viruses

Get more content

Hammond 1

Christine Hammond

Instructor Knight

English 111

22 June 2015

Fat Tax: Why It Will Not Work

Two out of every three Americans are considered to be overweight or obese. The growing obesity rate has led to high cholesterol, and an increase in chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, and cancer. Can a tax on sugar and fat laden "junk" foods curb over–consumption? This works in theory, but in reality there are solid reasons why this tax won't work. There are a large number of Americans that live in "food deserts" with limited access to healthy foods. For an obese person to make wise food choices, they must first value their health. Raising the price of unhealthy foods won't instill value on health. One of the main...show more content... Attacking the obesity problem this way ignores more important aspects of the problem. Many Americans don't have access to the foods they need to have well–balanced nutrient rich diets. Some initiatives to bring better food choices to Americans living in food deserts are using mobile grocery stores, and allowing abandoned land in urban areas to be farmed. There are now many communities in the United States that are bringing free nutrition education to residents. The hope is that with education, people will understand better the relationship between food and health. More needs to be done to educate people about the necessity of exercise and provide affordable options for living an active lifestyle.

Fagen, Zara, PhD,ND. "A Junk Food Tax Is Unlikely to Solve America's Health Epidemics." Science of Natural Health.N.p.,18 July 2006. Web. 05 June 2015.

Gallager, Marie. "Examining the Impact of Food Deserts on Public Health in CHICAGO." Marie Gallagher Research and Consulting Group. N.p., 18 July 2006. Web. 05 June 2015.

Salahi, Lara, and Samantha Meany, MD. "Fat Tax' to Lower Obesity." ABC News. ABC News Network, 16 May 2012. Web 05 June

A "fat tax" or "junk food tax" is a tax placed in fattening foods or drinks. In the early 1980s, fat tax attention raised suggesting that it possibly could be used to support consumption of healthy foods. This idea became relevant when a New York Times reported the problem of healthy foods costing more than junk foods. Junk food should be taxed because it brings down the consumption of sugary beverages, curves obesity, and encourages people eating habits. To get started, junk food should be taxed to discourage consumption. On the one hand, some argue that fat tax discourages consumption of sugary beverages. In 2014, soda tax took effect in Mexico on carbonated drinks, fruit drinks, added sugar drinks, and sweetened ice teas according to "Soda Sales Fall again in Mexico's Second Year of Taxation". Public health advocates encouraged this idea and results were shown to see how much the soda tax had an affect on Mexicans. Sanger–Katz argues that "Studies on the first year of the tax found that sugary beverage consumption fell substantially, with the biggest decreases among low–income Mexicans the group at highest risk of obesity–related diseases". Sanger–Katz point is soda tax led to changes in consumer consumptions. This supports the idea that taxing sodas have beneficial effects that could improve people's health. In addition, taxing junk food curves obesity. Many countries have adopted fat tax mainly on sugary drinks to take control of obesity. Studies were done to show Get

Throughout history humans have commended themselves on their advancements in medicine and technology. Then why is it that obesity is as its highest rate ever and the price of healthcare has risen drastically? Due to a rising percentage in obesity, a tax on foods high in processed sugars that, while seemingly restrictive, would be beneficial for the financial and physical health of citizens and the state.

Counter argument

A– If a tax was placed on foods with high percentages on processed sugars, the food industry and government would profit no matter what.

EL– Between expensive healthy foods and inexpensive unhealthier foods, the food industry and government makes some big bucks. One can imagine just how much they could make if the put a...show more content...

One could do millions of other things with that amount of money be it putting the money towards a bill that needs to be paid, buying a gift, treating yourself to a nice dinner or even just putting it in the bank to save up for something in the future instead of throwing it all into a health care plan that most people actually wind up spending too much for on a monthly basis.

A–A womans self confidence in americas society is

E–The average teenage girl consumes 40 percent less calcium than bone experts recommend. Yet teenagers now drink twice as much soda pop as milk. (Twenty years ago, they drank almost twice as much milk as soda) (Masci).

E–

EL–if a woman is fat she is automatically seen as a "failure" and how this stems from how and where we grow up. She continues to explain how women grow up taught to think that they need to look perfect for men to want to be with them and that in the world there are so many companies that are praying on a woman's sense of self. She believes that if this can change then our physical health can also.

C– While it would difficult process in the beginning, it is completely possible for a tax to benefit not only normal everyday people but people in government positions and business people in the food

Fat Tax for Australia Introduction There is what has been referred to as "obesity epidemic" in Australia today. This trend affects everyone it the society; whether it be directly or indirectly. One particular concern within the "at risk" segment is children. The young in our society do not have the capacity, either mentally or the physical resources, to make their own informed decisions about their dietary consumption. Children are generally dependent upon their parents or institutions to provide them with the foods that they consume. Therefore, this group above all others deserves some level of protection against a lifestyle that can potentially have negative consequences for their health that can stay with them for a lifetime. However, there are several other costs inflicted on society by poor dietary practices by its citizens. One example is the impacts that are placed on the health system. Obesity can lead to a wide range of different medical conditions which make obese people more frequent visitors to a health care facility. This acts to drive up medical costs for everyone not just the obese themselves. Furthermore, there are also issues for the labor pool. Obesity can prevent people from meeting their productivity potentials as well as make them miss more time at work due to obesity related illnesses. The Obesity Policy Coalition has been determined to influence change in policy and regulation to help prevent obesity, particularly in children. Rates of

Get more content

Fat Tax: Rebuttal The fat tax is a proposed tax on certain unhealthy foods that lead to the development of certain medical conditions such as obesity. As obesity is a growing concern of many Americans, arguments can be made about how effective a fat tax may be if implemented. The opposing group argues that the implementation of a fat tax would discourage the consumption of unhealthy foods, reduce costs of medical treatment, and obtain government funding. Although our opposition has some strong points, there are still unanswered questions that need to be addressed. The opposition claims that a fat tax would deter Americans from eating harmfuljunk food. They compare a fat tax to the sin tax on cigarettes, which they claim has lowered cigarette usage in America. However, much like cigarettes, fatty foods are filled with addictive chemicals that make people crave more (Engber). Our opposition claims that because the sin tax helped lower the usage of cigarettes the fat tax will theoretically do the same for unhealthy foods. However, they fail to mention that the decline of cigarettes is also attributed to strict laws on their usage and the new...show more content... Our opponents are wrong in assuming that the fat tax would reduce obesity. The tax would not help lower obesity as well as the sin tax lowered the use of cigarettes, since the two carry two different connotations. Claiming that the tax would lower obesity solely through speculation is illogical. Additionally, the opposition's statement that a fat tax would deter people from purchasing unhealthy foods and that the government would use the money collected from the fat tax to fight obesity contrast each other. These fallacies in our opponent's argument show that the reasons for the fat tax are full of misconceptions and conflicting viewpoints. That is why opposing the fat tax is the most logical thing to Get

Fat Taxes Are Not The Answer

Although Fat taxes could discourage consumers from eating foods that aren't good for them, they should not be implemented. Making citizens pay unnecessary taxes is most definitely not the answer. Reality is that obesity can be caused by many different factors other than the consumption of unhealthy foods. Factors such as genetics, mental health, lack of exercise and poor portion control, play a far more important part in maintaining a healthy weight. Therefore, losing weight is an individual process that can't be tackled with such a simplistic approach.

Fat Taxes Policy

Fat taxes are simply taxes implemented on any foods or drinks the government considers unhealthy, and whose consumption is related to the ...show more content...

Merely, obesity is a complex issue that needs to be addressed differently. Promoting portion control, lifestyle changes and exercise would be a far more effective way of combating obesity, than making hard working Americans pay additional pointless taxes.

Another Sin Tax

Yes, Fat taxes are basically the government's attempt to make profit while censuring and governing our choices. In the journal of legal medicine "Fat Taxes: The Newest Manifestation Of Age–Old Excise Tax," Creighton (2010) points out that " The ability to tax should not be used to bring total social change in a free society." Currently, we pay taxes on alcohol and tobacco products on what the government calls "an attempt" to discourage individuals from participating in such activities, but as we do individuals still do. The reality is that the government in someway secretly favors these types of behaviors because they generate large amounts of revenue. Fat taxes are not about decreasing harm to our society. They are just way of making us feel like the government cares about us, while they extract money out of our pocket. Hence, Fat taxes are the new sin tax. Accepting such a tax would be like letting the government tell us what we can and cannot eat and to some extend it would be an offense to our country's free institution. Instead of condemning people for eating certain types of foods, that some of us enjoy

Get more content

What Are The Pros And Cons Of A Fat Tax

The growing problem of obesity is becoming an issue in the United States and it has prompted calls for government action, including the imposition of a "fat tax". Whilst many of the population are at odds with this potential policy; morbidity, mortality rates and health care costs continue to rise. This article will compare microeconomic theory with that of a cost–benefit analysis in order to explore the pros and cons of a fat tax. This literature will apply theories of rational and irrational consumer decision–making to obesity–related consumption decisions and present a simple supply and demand model to suggest the likely consequences of a fat tax.

Get more content

Flat Tax Rate: Rich Households Have Had Enough Rich households have been paying too much in taxes these past years. "Earners in the top 1% pay about 43% of their incomes in tax. [While] people in the middle quintile pay 25%. [And] the poorest fifth pays 13%" (Barro). And yet some politicians, like Donald Trump, think the solution to resolving our country's debt is by taxing the top percent more. In reality, theUnited States should have a flat tax rate due to the fact that it is the fairest plan and the hard work pertained by the top percent should be valued. The way flat tax rate works is that everyone gets taxed the same percentage regardless of their income. For example, lets say a "poor" man makes $50,000 yearly , while a "rich" man...show more content...

It is also used of resources such as building schools, roads, paying government employees but the fact of the matter is that its all for the public. Why should you make high–income citizens pay for things that everyone is using. We should all put in the same amount of money that goes into these projects, since after all there for everyones use. Why would you penalize people that worked hard for their money when everyone else had the opportunity to do so. Even if its old money, someone struggled to gather that money, the government cannot just take that away. Being rich is rare privilege, not fairly common, if not it would not feel so unique. With the method we have now we are just going to balance everyones finances out, we need a diverse income for our population. If not people will not have any ambition, not strive. A country has to create riches, not distribute them if they do the economy as we know it will go in a decadence. Those that are in the highest class have studied and trained so hard to where they are. Most of them have corporations in which provide work, if a flat tax was issued those same corporations would have more resources to expand their business to create more job. With the rate our tax plans are going corporations are going no other option then lay people

Get more content

Fat taxes have been experimented with in numerous European countries. There are many benefits such as boosting economic growth, improving health and elongating life expectancy. On the contrary if a fat tax is implemented into a weak economy it could cause the loss of jobs due to higher prices. These higher prices cause local consumers to begin to purchase their unhealthy products in different states or countries, causing the loss of business for local industries. France, Hungary and Denmark all have experimented with the enactment of a fat tax. All four countries experienced varied results with both positive and negative outcomes. The French, when implementing the "Junk Food Tax", wanted to decrease unhealthy food eating habits...show more content... Energy drink producers have changed their recipe, playing a cat and mouse game with the government and their new tax regulations. There is much opposition and debate over this, and difficult economic times have created unrest with the residents. Still, the tax with all of this negative feedback has survived, unlike the experiment performed in Denmark. Denmark implanted a fat tax on food products containing more than 2.3% saturated fat. After only being in place for one year, Denmark repealed the fat tax and got rid of an impending tax on sugar in 2012. The tax was causing the loss of jobs due to the increased cost of "doing business". Consumers began buying food products in Sweden and Germany. Many younger adults who would frequently purchase bags of chips after school simply began buying different brands of potato chips that merely just changed the types of ingredients to meet the governments fat tax demands. While the tax did bring in $216 million for the government, the higher price of meat, dairy and butter proved to be too much for the Hungarian economy to handle. With the loss of consumers in Denmark, business owners were not able to sustain consistent sales to stay profitable. Americans would have even less options for buying foreign food products considering our geography, compared to that of Denmark. With mixed results it is necessary to carry out evaluations before implementing a fat tax. The state of