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Vice Taxes for Health?
One issue on the agenda is the potential for national health insurance in America. Many have asked how we could fund this, and I stated that it would in fact require some sort of rise in taxes (though people wouldn't be spending their money on private health insurance, so it's quid quo pro). Do you think it would make sense to tax foods based upon their saturated fat, sodium, and high fructose corn syrup content to help pay for national health insurance?
I'd imagine this proposal would be unpopular among the general population, given that food is already expensive... but I noticed that there are a lot of libertarians here, and I know that they generally do not like direct taxes. I think a compromise would be to have some combination of progressive income tax funding and junkfood tax funding (which would be somewhat regressive, but then it would encourage people to buy healthier food).
So we tax gasoline to repair our roads. We tax cigarettes (and sue their manufacturers) to pay for the health costs they end up costing us. So why not unhealthy food?
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