YES! YES! YES!
A 20 per cent tax on junk food to fund free dental care for low-income families is being proposed by one of New Zealand’s minor parties.
The Opportunities Party (TOP) says the tax would bring in about $1 billion a year which would also be used to cap the cost of doctors’ visits to less than $10 and ensure nationwide access to cheap fruit and vegetable boxes.
The 20 per cent tax hike would see the cost of a Big Mac jump by $1.64 to $9.84, a 1.5L bottle of Coke increase by 75c to $4.64 and a slab of Whittaker’s chocolate increase by 93c to $5.62.
The party launched its health policy this afternoon outside the Coca-Cola factory in Auckland.
Big Sugar often get ignored as one of the 4 Horseman of the Apocalypse. Their addictive and poisonous drug (sugar) is not only brought to our table via exceptionally exploitative labour practices, but it’s collusion with the manufactured food industry makes every corner side Dairy a pimp.
Combine this with GST off fresh fruit and food, and we can finally take back control of the market that has been utterly dominated by the Big Sugar and manufactured food Industry who peddle high fat and high sugar to the reptilian parts of our brain that are evolutionally hard wired to seek them out.
It’s time to get serious about our food health and TOP seem to be the only ones taking it seriously!
Great policy!
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In other words you need TOP because Labour are too scared of losing the middle therefore are progressive in name only similar to National being right leaning in name only.
PROBLEM: The darkest Whittaker’s chocolate is truly healthy (in sensibly small portions).
All carbohydrates become sugar in one’s body, ergo carbs of all kinds are the least desirable foods to eat. Obesity is now a burgeoning health challenge in N.Z. No doctor/GP can fix this – only the individual affected can. I see too many young children who are frighteningly obese. The cost to our country is horrendous; the cost to the growing children is a tragedy. They will die before the age of their parents at the latter’s deaths.
The majority of people think that saturated, animal fat is harmful to health. Such fat is what humanity evolved with: our brains need it. Keep uppermost in mind: the average medical doctor knows very little about nutrition. Ditto the average registered nurse. The major focus in the education of both categories of health professionals is Sickness & Disease. As a NZRN I have ALWAYS been much more interested in Health & Wellness – long before I became a nurse – (but I am an interesting exception). (Grin)
Yes, and it’s also Fair Trade.
As an RN you must be aware of recent independent research that throws light on the benefits of whole foods plant based and the myths of animal fats and protein being beneficial
Sure animal products are very big business and have swayed research for a long time but no more.
Vegetable oils are not good for the linings of arteries and veins but a variety of unprocessed fruit and vegetables should be at least the basis of human diet if not the major part of a healthy diet.
RNs were not taught this some time ago but times and knowledge are both changing.
That’s easily sorted out – target a sugar percentage, so chocolate which is below that isn’t affected.
Spot on TOP. Well, almost spot on. Health warning on confectionery and high-sugar groceries, as per tobacco products, please.
Where is Labour on this? Missing in action, as usual. Sitting on the fence and doing nothing, as usual. Supporting the destructive activities of global corporations, as usual.
As long as they remove the GST from fresh fruit and veggies, and in particular from all fruit and veggies that are grown here in AO/ NZ. Also, from other healthy basic foods that are grown and produced here, including honey, cheese, butter, wholemeal flour, etc. (Or, across all basic foods.)
Many people can no longer afford to feed their families. That number will increase before it goes down. This is so very wrong in a country such as ours which produces and exports some of the best food on the planet. We have enough basic food to go around – Just make it affordable!!!!
Many people can no longer afford to feed their family using their continuing bad choices.
Healthy affordable food is still available in NZ (there fixed it for you)
their continuing bad choices.
Tell that to the children.
When it is people in need, individuals, families, children, veterans, accident survivors, invalids… it’s that “They made baaaad choices!”
When it is businesses rattling their begging buckets while they’re pushing a dead tourism horse up a slippery tourism slide, it’s “Where is the Govt help for them??”
Funny that.
Speak to anyone from those countries that take GST of selected items and the only ones that benefits are the accountants.Far easier would be to allow the heating allowance to continue until enough state houses are built to bring down the rents on all houses.
Yes TOP have some excellent policies, they could shift the Greens to the left if they joined forces.
It is outrageous that the only way for the poor to deal with their teeth problems is to queue up at Greenlane hospital at the crack of dawn and have them yanked out!
Watch this film. Is very good.
Then, in a years time, watch it again and be amazed at how much you forgot the first time around.
” That Sugar Film.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uaWekLrilY
A flaw in the taxing idea is that those toxic junk foods then become money spinners/ revenue sources for the govt, for successive govts, and any incentive to actually end the problem, vanishes. I don’t see it as helpful in the long term, to turn harmful products into bigger money earners.
TOP now stands for “TAX ON PEOPLE”
Gareth Morgan pointed out, at the last election, that 80% of the population would better off, tax wise, with TOP’s policies. The 20% who wouldn’t were “rich pricks’ like him, and that they could well afford to be worse off.
Ain’t going to happen because a huge number of New Zealanders are going to rebel if they have to pay 20 percent more for so-called “junk” food. Just identifying what should qualify as junk food is highly problematic. If such a law was introduced, it would end up being limited to a very small number of products.
Stealing from peter to pay paul? What a nonsense.
Hey! Wait just a minute…?
I can understand Big Pharma, Big Sugar and Big Monsanto but Big Deep State…?
What the fuck? How can a ‘deep state’ enjoy a normalising process like this if it’s more than a metaphor?
IS there a deep state then? And if so, is it paying taxes, does it bank its money? What, exactly does the ‘Deep State’ do? And how come we don’t know where it is, how it is, why it is and when it is? Is that why it’s called ‘The Deep State’ ? If it does indeed exist then we fucking need to know who and what it is, don’t you think?
Like, before we go to work, before we take out mortgages, loans and rents and even call OUR AO/NZ ours???
IS in fact AO/NZ ours? If not and it’s the ‘Deep State’s’ then FUCK the deep state.
Because otherwise, why even vote?
Yes this is just more bureaucratic bullshit CB as we don’t need more but less control over us.
Speak to anyone from those countries that take GST of selected items and the only ones that benefits are the accountants.Far easier would be to allow the heating allowance to continue until enough state houses are built to bring down the rents on all houses.
I would 100% vote top over the greens if top was polling well enough, radical change without Wokeness.
Honestly. It’s sad that the TOP party isn’t getting traction. That 2% they got last election almost exclusively came from straight white young men who are progressive and want radical change but are sick of being called privledged when they are struggling or blamed for the world’s problems when they are on min wage
Why not vote for the best policies and encourage others to do the same?
There are a lot of Greens fans pushing the ‘oh-noes-wasted-vote!’ line on Twitter and Facebook, but it’s noticeable they spend far less time trying to claim ‘Greens policy > TOP policy’
We need TOPs policies in practice. If not this election, then the next or the one after.
Well, I disagree. Some of us don’t want to be served slices of TOP’s prettified capitalism cake. We want to be able to bake our own brown bread, from an entirely different mix.
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