[CharlieO]

Originally Posted by Vicky.

Well we know just as much as you do tbh

'If the Goevernment are so concerned about promoting health issues then why not make fruit a lot cheaper and as someone mentioned raise tax on foodstuffs with no nutritional value. I love fruit and would buy much more if it wasn't so expensive. '

Is what was replied to. If they really did care about health, they would do exactly that. Make healthy food cheaper and junk more expensive. Of course it wouldnt stop everyone eating junk...but it would allow those who WANT to eat healthy to do so...as at the moment its a lot cheaper to buy a giant bag of chicken nuggets and a bag of chips than it is to buy the fresh ingredients for a healthy meal, and thats not right at all.

At the same time we would be cutting NHS bills too. As if more people ate healthy there would be less obesity related illnesses.

The government do subsidise agricultural production but they do not have the money to just 'make healthy food cheaper'.
They do not have the control over food prices, the free market does. It really has nothing to do with the government and the fact you say they should just make it cheaper is laughable because it is not like they possess a magic wand and can just change the prices of goods.
The whole idea of the market economy is that people who cannot afford goods get excluded from purchasing them. If one want the 'healthier more expensive' goods, one has to earn more money. It is a pretty good scheme in honesty, it can give one the incentive to work.

They are however considering a 'fat-tax' where by food goods with above a certain level of saturated fat will have extra tax implemented. This is because they do care about the disgustingly high obesity levels in the UK in comparison with the rest of Europe. Fatty food has a relatively elastic demand due to the high number of substitutes or alternatives so the tax will end up not generating a huge amount of revenue but more so reducing the weight issues. So the healthier food may well become the cheaper kind in the future.

[Kizzy]

Originally Posted by CharlieO

The government do subsidise agricultural production but they do not have the money to just 'make healthy food cheaper'.
They do not have the control over food prices, the free market does. It really has nothing to do with the government and the fact you say they should just make it cheaper is laughable because it is not like they possess a magic wand and can just change the prices of goods.
The whole idea of the market economy is that people who cannot afford goods get excluded from purchasing them. If one want the 'healthier more expensive' goods, one has to earn more money. It is a pretty good scheme in honesty, it can give one the incentive to work.

Someone ring Joseph Rowntree quick!...

[Vicky.]

Originally Posted by CharlieO

If one want the 'healthier more expensive' goods, one has to earn more money. It is a pretty good scheme in honesty, it can give one the incentive to work.

Yeah, fantastic scheme. Cause the less well off even more problems than they have already, lets add health problems to the list. I get ya. Great

[Vicky.]

Originally Posted by CharlieO

They are however considering a 'fat-tax' where by food goods with above a certain level of saturated fat will have extra tax implemented. This is because they do care about the disgustingly high obesity levels in the UK in comparison with the rest of Europe.Fatty food has a relatively elastic demand due to the high number of substitutes or alternatives so the tax will end up not generating a huge amount of revenue but more so reducing the weight issues. So the healthier food may well become the cheaper kind in the future.

Well this would be all well and good if it works out like this. However the way I imagine just adding a fat-tax will work out is that everything else stays the same, fatty foods go up, leaving low income families(who currently buy this fatty crap because its all they can afford) struggling to buy anything :S

[CharlieO]

Originally Posted by Vicky.

Well this would be all well and good if it works out like this. However the way I imagine just adding a fat-tax will work out is that everything else stays the same, fatty foods go up, leaving low income families(who currently buy this fatty crap because its all they can afford) struggling to buy anything :S

No because the economy doesn't work like that. The reason prices are rising; inflation, is because incomes are rising. It will all work it self out soon enough and we will find that prices are very cheap. However if you actually work out how much food is got from this fatty rubbish in comparison to healthier food it is not very different. It just seems different as generally the unhealthier stuff is nearer to a meal than fresh food is. It is more people being lazy and not being bothered to make the most out of fresh ingredients and wasting a lot of it.

[Kizzy]

Originally Posted by Vicky.

Well this would be all well and good if it works out like this. However the way I imagine just adding a fat-tax will work out is that everything else stays the same, fatty foods go up, leaving low income families(who currently buy this fatty crap because its all they can afford) struggling to buy anything :S

Stuff it im growing my own... i have a huge garden and more than enough room for veg and chickens. All I have to do is watch a few re-runs of the 70s sitcom 'The Good Life' and im sorted!

[Vicky.]

Originally Posted by kizzy

Stuff it im growing my own... i have a huge garden and more than enough room for veg and chickens. All I have to do is watch a few re-runs of the 70s sitcom 'The Good Life' and im sorted!

I would actually seriously do this is I had a proper garden/allotment

My grandad used to grow all his own veg and it tastes a lot better than the stuff you get from the shops too.

[Bollo]

Originally Posted by kizzy

Stuff it im growing my own... i have a huge garden and more than enough room for veg and chickens. All I have to do is watch a few re-runs of the 70s sitcom 'The Good Life' and im sorted!

I would love to be able to do that, but unfortunately I'm allergic to all forms of gardening..