The government does place restrictions on what can be bought with food Stamps. As for junk food, the reason we allow for the purchase of that is because food stamps are seen not only as a way to help the hungry feed themselves, but also because it is seen as a direct boon the the US food industry, of which junk food makers form a power part.
As for junk food, I think the government should place a significant tax on them - and for fairness sakes, call it a nutrition tax. The tax would apply to all food, and be based on a calculation of the amount of calories the food has per serving modified by the nutritional value of them (and the includion of minerals, vitamins, and fiber). As such, some high calorie food stuffs would be taxed less than others assuming they had a high nutritional value (such as whole milk, peanut butter or nuts in general) while hitting junk food and empty calories like in Soda hard. This would move the poor, who are very price conscious when it comes to food purchases, to spend more on high calory high nutrition items, some of which can be bought in bulk.
And I would do this because I do believe that there are clear health costs to obesity and we are better off making the costs to society of these foods fall squarely on consumers. Of course, we also need to change our agricultural policy to end the subsidy of cheap empty calories.
As for junk food, I think the government should place a significant tax on them - and for fairness sakes, call it a nutrition tax. The tax would apply to all food, and be based on a calculation of the amount of calories the food has per serving modified by the nutritional value of them (and the includion of minerals, vitamins, and fiber). As such, some high calorie food stuffs would be taxed less than others assuming they had a high nutritional value (such as whole milk, peanut butter or nuts in general) while hitting junk food and empty calories like in Soda hard. This would move the poor, who are very price conscious when it comes to food purchases, to spend more on high calory high nutrition items, some of which can be bought in bulk.
And I would do this because I do believe that there are clear health costs to obesity and we are better off making the costs to society of these foods fall squarely on consumers. Of course, we also need to change our agricultural policy to end the subsidy of cheap empty calories.
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