Ladies and gentlemen, stock up on your Twinkies. A tax on junk food could be coming to a province near you. Earlier this month, the British Columbia government said it is considering adding a new weapon to its sin tax a***nal -- the "junk food tax" -- in an attempt to curb the obesity epidemic that is spiralling out of control.

Gordon Hogg, the B.C. minister responsible for healthy living, said "there's an allure to (a junk food tax) ... If we are going to have a positive impact on public behaviour, and benefits to the people of this province, then (a tax) is something we clearly have to look at."
And B.C. isn't alone. In late September, the Medical Society of Prince Edward Island passed a resolution calling on the P.E.I. government to implement a "junk food tax." P.E.I.'s health minister says he's open to the concept.
It's an idea whose time has definitely come. We've already got sin taxes on booze and cigarettes. Chocolate bars and potato chips are the next logical step.

Eating junk food leads to weight gain. With that weight gain comes increased health risks including high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease. And with those increased health risks comes increased strain on an already overburdened medical system.
Normally, I'd be arguing tooth and nail against any form of tax increase. But a 2004 Statistics Canada study showed that 23% of adults -- about 5.5 million people -- were obese. That's an awful lot of full-figured folks facing potentially dire consequences. It really boils down to personal responsibility. If a person makes a conscious lifestyle decision to disregard his or her health by subsisting on a diet of soft drinks, hamburgers and french fries, they should expect to be financially accountable to the government piper for their choices.

At the same time, the government piper must be accountable for the money it collects, as a sin tax of this nature is only palatable if that money is directed to the health-care system.
Critics of the "junk food tax" concept have argued it unfairly targets the poor, who may not be able to afford healthy forms of nourishment. But last time I grabbed a meal from a fast food joint, it topped the $6 mark. For that price, a person can easily buy a loaf of bread and some sandwich meat -- enough, even, for multiple meals. So that argument simply doesn't fly.
A more valid concern, one expressed by the P.E.I. health minister, is how to properly define junk food. Answers.com defines it as "a high-calorie food that is low in nutritional value." But how high do the calories have to be (or conversely, how low does the nutritional value have to be) before legislators decide to penalize the purchaser? Are all desserts junk food? If they are, will flour, sugar, eggs and milk fall under the "junk food tax" if they're used to bake cookies? What about ground beef and buns, if they're used to make hamburgers?

Will all items on a fast food menu be classified as junk food, simply because of the location in which they are purchased? Or is a salad permissible as long as it doesn't come with fries?
Legislators could let themselves become bogged down with a myriad of complex (and sometimes ridiculous) scenarios. Or they could agree on a trial basis to tax certain items that indisputably fall into the junk food category (chocolate bars and potato chips, for instance) as they try to come to terms with a more complete definition.

In the meantime, you better stockpile those Twinkies, if you know what's not good for you.

Gordon Hogg, the B.C. minister responsible for healthy living

Schlosser states that corporate tax cuts that have compromised school funding have presented many corporations with the opportunity for sponsorship within those same schools. According to sources, 80% of the sponsored textbooks contain material that is biased in favor of the sponsors, and 30% of high schools offer fast foods in their cafeterias. Furthermore, high school student Mike Cameron was suspended from school for an incident on "Coke day"; during a promotional event, the student exhibited a Pepsi t-shirt while he and other students clad in red and white formed the word 'Coke' in the football field that was to be photographed aerially

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