No Taxes! Promoting Good Health

It may be just me, but when I hear about taxes on things like cigarettes or now, soda, I think it’s just silly. While people may focus on the “bad” things people do (like drink sugar soda) and believe that by limiting or punishing people is going to be effective in getting people healthy, I disagree. People already know what’s healthy or not for them. The problem is not punishing people for doing “bad health” type of things, because the reality is that they are probably already being punished by having diminished health.

Rather than tax items that cause poor health, why not reward those that improve your health? A tax credit if you lose 50 or 100 pounds. A rebate if you get your blood pressure down and keep it down for a specified amount of time? Wouldn’t more people be motivated to do this?

What’s your opinion?

Image: sxc.hu.