should fat people pay more taxes than slim people to pay for the healrh care they will need later in life?

Question

to the moaners, put the donut down. it's a news related question. government thinking about it. now quit yer yammering, all that flab is disgusting. and no i'm not a skinny person. just asking a question, but sure whinge on ya turdsl

Answer 1

First, a disclaimer - I'm a fat bugger, and hell no, I ain't putting down no doughnut!
Now onto a sober analysis of the question. It's true that this is being proposed in the media as a possible source of healthcare funding for the future. And there's a certain logic in what it's trying to do, which is use a tax mechanism to socially engineer a reaction in people towards healthier habits. The problem comes from two sources.
Firstly, if we accept this, we have to accept that the State gets to decide what lifestyles are socially acceptable. If smokers are to be taxed to provide the ventillators they may need, and fat people are to be taxed extra to pay for their healthcare, then what's to stop sunbathers being taxed extra to pay for the skin cancer research they'll need, or joggers being taxed to pay for the treatments for mysterious exploding heart syndrome they die of because they're so damned healthy in ever other way, and so on. And what's to keep it within a medical context? If groups of people can be socially engineered through tax frameworks, what's to stop the introduction of a 'vanity tax' on people who buy hair dye, because the government decides that actually, on balance, you're not really worth it after all...

And secondly, there's the inherent hypocrisy of such a move. It's like the smoking debate - stop people being able to smoke practically everywhere, but still take healthy chunks of tax revenue from the big tobacco companies. How about any "fat tax" being applied to businesses rather than consumers - every McDonalds happy meal sold to include a tax contribution to deal with the heart attack with the happy little youngster's name on it? Evey can of Coke to carry a tax donation towards a new set of dentures, and so on...Y'know, address the problem at state, corporate and consumer level, rather than just targetting and stigmatising the consumer. What do you think?

Answer 2

No they shouldn't pay more taxes! There are plenty of slim people out there that are just as unhealthy, okay, being overweight is self-inflicted in the majority of cases (I accept some cannot help this and may have other problems) but there's a psychological element to it isn't there? Someone who cannot control the amount they eat has an addiction; just like smokers and alcoholics.

The answer to this is not to penalise people for not living a 'wholesome' lifestyle, I am not overweight but I certainly do not take the view that an overweight person should pay more tax.

Ridiculous and just another way to screw more cash out of people, by making them feel guilty about their 'failings'.

Sorry for the rant, but I hate it when a particular group in society is singled out and picked on.

Answer 3

no way! not all fat people can help being fat! i am overweight due to medication i am on. and anyhow, just cos your fat dont mean u are gonna need more health care than some skinny person with an illness. for fat people, trying to loose weight is just as hard as it is for a skinny person to put on weight, u know the type, the ones that eat and eat and dont gain a pound. that would be totally unfair. i bet u are a skinny person? well u just wait, u might end up fat!

Answer 4

Why? Health care isn't free. Unless of course you're an illegal alien. So, they would have to pay out of there own pocket or through health insurance anyway.

Plus, if fat people should have to pay more taxes due to health care so should smokers, heavy drinkers, those who don't wear seat belts, frequent flyers, those who participate in high risk activities (sky diving, cliff diving, etc.) those who have unprotected sex.

Pretty much anyone that does anything that may impose a health risk.

Answer 5

Thou art a fool.

I'm not ashamed to admit i'm overweight. What healthcare have I partaken of?
I had a dental x-ray, and a cast when I fractured my arm.


In short, ye be talkin' from between the lips you never kiss with.

Answer 6

no fat people should not pay more taxes then skinny people do you think that they want to be like that no it not there chose some people are just big it could be medical reason or whatever

Answer 7

just because your fat doesnt mean you are an unhealthy couch potato who will need more health care than a slimmer person, and no im not fat, im wafer thin.

Answer 8

Anorexics need not apply.............?

They are 'slim' people that need a lot of healthcare; mind you, if the healthcare they get whilst they are 'slim' doesn't work....... they don't HAVE any 'later in life'.

Answer 9

no! it would be like asking if men should pay more taxes than women (men are in the hospital more)

Answer 10

you are just plain cruel,.. i was overweight as a kiddo. and i lost what i had to through hard work... have you been there? and no i don't agree. shame on you.