Junk Food Tax?

In an article published August 23, 2009 in the Los Angeles Times, Karen Kaplan touches upon public health expert's as well as different politician’s ideas of issuing a tax on unhealthy foods in the attempt to prevent obesity in the United States. The idea is that these taxes are issued so that obesity rates don't continue to rise and the average life expectancy continues to fall. Numerous statistics are provided to stress the seriousness of obesity. For example, University of Virginia pediatric cardiologist Arthur Garson and supporter for 'junk food' tax states, "We are killing 100,000 people per year so something needs to get done." As for the protesters, registered dietician Kellie Glass says, "This is the most ridiculous idea I've ever heard. Folks are just not going to give up all the foods they love just because they are more expensive." In terms of relevance to health care reform this tax would raise millions maybe billions of dollars considering the sheer amount of people who consume these unhealthy foods. That money would be used to fund health care reform, which is such a huge issue as of today. Money gained from the taxes would be put towards that 10 to 20 percent drop in prices that the current health care reform promises in comparison to the high private insurers prices. As you can see, there are numerous supporters and protesters for the idea of ‘junk food’ tax or taxing unhealthy foods. It's obvious that obesity is a serious problem in the United States, but is this actually a tax that would make a difference?