A Griffith University study published in BMJ Public Health on Wednesday found a levy applied to non-alcoholic drinks with added sugar, such as soft drinks and most juices, could prevent 3.7 million cases of tooth decay, 191,000 cases of gum disease, and 115,000 cases of complete tooth loss across Australia over the next 25 years.
The theory goes, If packaged junk food was more expensive then people would eat healthier packaged food. A tax on sugary drinks and a cap on bottled water prices is along those same lines.
Australian government sources say low income Australians are over 2 times more likely to die from preventable deaths than wealthier Australians. So the obvious way to improve health is remove regressive taxes, increase their incomes to track cost of living increases and do something about rents.
There are always classist do-gooders. Taking indigenous kids from their families. Putting welfare payments on cards to control spending. What they never want to do is lower rents and utilities or raise wages or benefits. The data is very clear. Poverty kills. Put a tax on one junk food and I guarantee supermarkets are going to increase their margins on healthier alternatives to match leaving everyone worse off. Shareholders are the only ones who benefit.
I agree colesworth would take advantage to increase profits.
I was living in the Alice when that basics card came in. The card would only work at grocery stores apparently but the truth was the grocery stores started selling things that were no longer groceries just to cash in on a captive market.
Levels of greed never cease to surprise.