Mexico passes 'junk food tax' reform - Polidicks

[img]http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/70838000/jpg/_70838084_70838079.jpg[/img] [quote] The Mexican Congress has approved a tax reform bill imposing new levies on junk food and soft drinks. President Enrique Pena Nieto's project also aims to boost government revenue by increasing top earners' income tax. The government says the extra cash will go on infrastructure and social security, but critics say it will hurt Mexico's sluggish growth. Mexico recently surpassed the United States as the country with one of the highest obesity rates in the world. A recent report by the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says that 32.8% of adult Mexicans are obese, compared to 31.8% of Americans. The country's health authorities say there are more than five million obese children in the country and a 9.2% incidence of diabetes among children. "Obesity and diabetes are affecting school and work performances, and with it, the country's economic competitiveness," Mexico's Health Minister, Mercedes Juan, told reporters on Thursday, at the launch of a country strategy to tackle the problem. Long debate It involves a big push to label unhealthy food, restrict advertisements to protect children and boost physical exercise in schools and workplaces. The Senate approved the tax reform after more than eight hours of debate, proposing amendments that require another vote by the lower house. After the Congress' final approval, it now needs to be sanctioned by President Pena Nieto. The law imposes a levy of 8% on junk food, after the Senate increased it from the 5% originally proposed; and creates a tax of one peso ($0.07; £0.04) on every litre of soft or sugary drinks.[/quote] [url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-24766027[/url]

Most of the healthy shit cost more so it just bumps up food prices.

[QUOTE=Chernobyl426;42766188]Most of the healthy shit cost more so it just bumps up food prices.[/QUOTE] Healthy food is actually cheaper. People prefer junk food because you don't need to cook it

[QUOTE=Laserbeams;42766303]Healthy food is actually cheaper. People prefer junk food because you don't need to cook it[/QUOTE] This. Stop saying junk food is cheaper it's simply not true.

Good tax. Mexicans probably aren't going to see that much more of a price increase on their Cheetos, and what with the popularity of junk food the government's going to make a goddamned killing off this.

My girlfriend is from Mexico (She decided to study in Canada, love her to bits). She approves of this, and it makes sense. If healthy food is cheaper than junk food then it will push for a healthier economy.

Makes sense since Mexico has surpassed the US in obesidity rates.

[QUOTE=Laserbeams;42766303]Healthy food is actually cheaper. People prefer junk food because you don't need to cook it[/QUOTE] People prefer junk food because fatty food appeals to us a lot more naturally than leaves. We used to have to build up fat while we could to survive through tougher times... Now we don't so we just get fat.

Didn't places that did similar things to this have no change in obesity rates? Didn't it just cause people to have less money?

Why junk food and fatty food appeals to people: we like stuff that tastes good and has a bunch of sugar, salt, and fat in it. Don't let's forget that if something doesn't taste good, even if its good for you, nobody's going to like it very much. Taste rules all for most folks. At the same time, there's less time to cook proper meals with actual healthy ingredients, which is why a lot of people settle for stuff in tins, boxes, and frozen dinners and the like. Convenience can lead to strange sacrifices in the name of nutrition. Eating out has gotten more expensive as the years go on by (though the recent scene on stuff like street food carts is helping counter this a bit) as well. just a few scraps to throw out there.

[QUOTE=The Baconator;42766455]Makes sense since Mexico has surpassed the US in obesidity rates.[/QUOTE] Says the guy whose avatar consists of heart attack on a bun.

[QUOTE=Atlascore;42766327]You're extremely wrong, there's plenty of healthy food out there that doesn't require cooking, and there's also tons of junk food out there that requires cooking. [editline]5th November 2013[/editline] It's true in the US, most junk food here is dirt cheap, stores here also charge ridiculous prices for things as simple as fruits or vegetables.[/QUOTE] As a matter of fact proper health food does indeed cost much less than a majority of junk foods, yeah some fast/junk foods are indeed cheap but most really aren't in comparison to healthy food. The health food that isn't cheap is the "illusion" health food, the bullshit health bars and meals that first of all aren't all too healthy and aren't all too cheap. What's cheap is ingredients to prepare a healthy affordable meal, most consumers are ignorant on how to purchase proper health foods.

[QUOTE=Tomberry;42766316]This. Stop saying junk food is cheaper it's simply not true.[/QUOTE] So time has no value?

[QUOTE=TorashVD;42767070]So time has no value?[/QUOTE] [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_Food[/url] [url]http://www.slowfood.com/[/url]

[QUOTE=Chernobyl426;42766188]Most of the healthy shit cost more so it just bumps up food prices.[/QUOTE] Healthy food is usually vastly vastly cheaper actually. The thing with junk food though is that it usually involves a lot less work, is fatty so makes your brain go woo hoo and is ubiquitous. Hell just compare softdrinks to plain water. Water is massively cheaper and yet there are people, kids, that don't drink anything that's not swaddled in sugar. [QUOTE=TorashVD;42767070]So time has no value?[/QUOTE] Fast food != junk food. It usually does but it certainly doesnt have to. Imagine a burritu stuffed with some curried vegs like brocolli and some sour cream, instead of massive amounts of cheap cheese, cheap fatty meat and weird sauces. Both take about as much time to produce (to a business and individual) and I'd wager the healthier option will actually be cheaper. Hell or even a fast food place that has a stew will usually get you a much healthier meal than a traditional fat, grease, chips and burgers for essentially the same price if not cheaper.

[QUOTE=nivek;42766824] What's cheap is ingredients to prepare a healthy affordable meal, most consumers are ignorant on how to purchase proper health foods.[/QUOTE] People just prefer the taste of sugars and meat. This kind of stuff is also easy to produce and has been made cheaper by alot of businesses.

[QUOTE=Atlascore;42766327]It's true in the US, most junk food here is dirt cheap, stores here also charge ridiculous prices for things as simple as fruits or vegetables.[/QUOTE] But this is the result of corporate subsidies. If you want to make healthy food cheaper, stop subsidizing feed grain, there's no need to tax it to make it even out.

[QUOTE=Tomberry;42766316]This. Stop saying junk food is cheaper it's simply not true.[/QUOTE] Maybe it's a location thing, but junk food is definitely the cheapest thing where I live. There's some healthier stuff that's cheap like rice, but you definitely can't survive off that.

[QUOTE=Tomberry;42766316]This. Stop saying junk food is cheaper it's simply not true.[/QUOTE] A box of Kraft Dinner costs the same as a head of lettuce. The former is unhealthy but can feed three people. The latter is healthy but can really only be used as a component in something else. (And used in something like salads will still only be enough for 4 or 5 people) Basically [i]anything[/i] in the processed foods aisles is cheaper and faster than buying meat/vegetables/pasta and making the equivalent yourself.

[QUOTE=Zeke129;42769210]A box of Kraft Dinner costs the same as a head of lettuce The former is unhealthy but can feed three people. The latter is healthy but can really only be used as a component in something else.[/QUOTE] Lettuce is a terrible example.

[QUOTE=Rangergxi;42769229]Lettuce is a terrible example.[/QUOTE] Ok, compare pre-made mac and cheese to homemade. For the same amount of food you'll be spending about 4x as much making it yourself. Same with soup, stew, or anything else you can buy in the dry grocery or canned aisles.

Canned food can be incredibly healthy and cheap. Kraft Dinner also doesn't hold a candle to the good homemade stuff.

[QUOTE=wraithcat;42768583][b]Healthy food is usually vastly vastly cheaper actually. The thing with junk food though is that it usually involves a lot less work, is fatty so makes your brain go woo hoo and is ubiquitous. Hell just compare softdrinks to plain water. Water is massively cheaper and yet there are people, kids, that don't drink anything that's not swaddled in sugar. Fast food != junk food. It usually does but it certainly doesnt have to. Imagine a burritu stuffed with some curried vegs like brocolli and some sour cream, instead of massive amounts of cheap cheese, cheap fatty meat and weird sauces. Both take about as much time to produce (to a business and individual) and I'd wager the healthier option will actually be cheaper. Hell or even a fast food place that has a stew will usually get you a much healthier meal than a traditional fat, grease, chips and burgers for essentially the same price if not cheaper.[/QUOTE] I'm gonna go ahead and say you're wrong. [url]http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2011/10/cooking-really-cheaper-junk-food-mark-bittman[/url] but I'd also go much further to say that the biggest health problem is mis-information, which you've also been a victim to as you listed 'traditional fat', 'grease' and 'burgers' are unhealthy, despite contrary evidence that the real problem with all of that is the carb content. Which only actually exists in the burger, and then only in the buns. Actually eating fast food would actually be pretty healthy if you did so in a way where you watched your carb in-take. Like um, this: [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evcNPfZlrZs[/url]

[QUOTE=Atlascore;42766327] It's true in the US, most junk food here is dirt cheap, stores here also charge ridiculous prices for things as simple as fruits or vegetables.[/QUOTE] depends on how you want to quantify it? do you want to say "junk food" is cheaper by the calorie(true), cheaper by volume(false), or cheaper by nutritional content(false)?

[QUOTE=Laserbeams;42766303]Healthy food is actually cheaper. People prefer junk food because you don't need to cook it[/QUOTE] Cooking is time and energy and time and energy are money. Time and energy that many people simply don't have. Healthy food is more expensive than junk food, period.

[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;42769383]Cooking is time and time is money. [/QUOTE] It's also effort. I see alot of Stay at home parents cooking reheated garbage.

[QUOTE=Kybalt;42769290]I'm gonna go ahead and say you're wrong. [url]http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2011/10/cooking-really-cheaper-junk-food-mark-bittman[/url] but I'd also go much further to say that the biggest health problem is mis-information, which you've also been a victim to as you listed 'traditional fat', 'grease' and 'burgers' are unhealthy, despite contrary evidence that the real problem with all of that is the carb content. Which only actually exists in the burger, and then only in the buns. Actually eating fast food would actually be pretty healthy if you did so in a way where you watched your carb in-take. Like um, this: [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evcNPfZlrZs[/url][/QUOTE] carb intake isn't necessarily bad. the problem is that a lot of our foods have incredibly simple carbohydrates which don't make you feel full for very long. more complex carbs, proteins, and fats tend to be more filling.

[QUOTE=Rangergxi;42769399]It's also effort. I see alot of Stay at home parents cooking reheated garbage.[/QUOTE] Well, yeah, get up at 9, munch cheerios, watch TV till 12, throw a microwave lunch and watch TV till 7pm to chug sausages for dinner is waste of time and obviously these people can afford better food just by putting more effort into it, but you have to keep in mind that plenty of families have both parents on a 9/5 job and you just can't reliably cook three meals a day that way, it's simply impossible. I myself love cooking and get to do quite a plenty of it whenever I have free time, but for many people it's simply not an option.

[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;42769383]Cooking is time and energy and time and energy are money. Time and energy that many people simply don't have. Healthy food is more expensive than junk food, period.[/QUOTE] you don't have to cook vegetables and nuts, legumes, seeds, etc.

[QUOTE=yawmwen;42769473]you don't have to cook vegetables and nuts, legumes, seeds, etc.[/QUOTE] You don't have to but, it gets boring very fast, doesn't taste all that great, and isn't filling for long.