Now if you wish to have junk food, be ready to pay some extra costs. Yes, for the very 1st time in India, Kerala government, which is led by Pinrayi Vijayan imposed a ‘Fat-Tax’ for consumers who love junk like tacos, burgers and pizzas. This announcement was made on Friday by Thomas Isaac, the Finance Minister, while he presented the 1st budget of the government.
While delivering the speech, he said a 14.5 percent ‘Fat-Tax’ would be applicable on branded restaurants that sell foods like burger patty, pasta, sandwiches, doughnuts, tacos, burgers and pizzas.
Although the government didn’t mention the motive behind this, it was stated that around 10 crores would be raised by this tax. Fat-Tax is already common in Hungary and Denmark for fighting obesity.
Why such a decision?
Well, 2 studies were conducted among Kerala’s school children for highlighting the obesity rates. As per a 2010 study that was conducted, it was seen that 12 percent of students were overweight and 6.3 percent of students were obese. As per another study, it was reflected that children from private schools were more obese as compared to those from government schools.
This Fat-Tax has become a matter of debate these days. Some say that it would help in reducing obesity levels, while others say that it is of no use for people who are healthy and opt for junk food only occasionally. Moreover, apart from this, even 5 percent tax was imposed on packaged products that are made up of rava, sooji, maida and wheat. 5 percent tax would be imposed on coconut oil too.
Isaac stated that “Inspite of a tax reduction for wheat and wheat products, the consumer has not benefited as the MRP of these products have remained the same,” So all you junk-food lovers, what do you have to say about this? Do let us know your comments in our comments section below!