The Fat Tax: An Idea Whose Time Has Come?
by Jerome Marcus, M.D.
There is abundant information which suggests that the population of the United States would benefit from reduced fat consumption. Heart disease, cancer, and stroke, the three most common causes of death, can at least in part be linked to excessive fat in the diet. Coincident with this is a desire on the part of our Federal Government to increase tax revenues. Is it possible that financial incentives could be set up which would link these two seemingly unrelated facts so that society might benefit?
Tax credits or tax reductions are frequently given to encourage that things be done or consumed by individuals or industry. Increased taxation frequently reduces the probability that something is going to occur. Since the consumption of fat is something which is overdone, maybe it is time to consider taxation as a means of fat control.
The best available data suggests that 37% of the calories in the average adult American's diet comes from fat. American Heart Association guidelines place the maximum acceptable intake at 30%. The 30% figure seems to have been arrived at rather arbitrarily. The thinking was that people could reduce fat consumption to this level without undo pain. Unfortunately, this thinking has given people a false sense of security. In reality, fat consumption should probably be no more than 22 or 24% of calories for prevention. Authors from Pritikin to Ornish have demonstrated that fat consumption of perhaps 10% may lead to reversal of preexisting coronary artery disease. I have chosen 24% of the calories from fat as a compromise which may be consistent with prevention of coronary artery disease.
Perhaps a "fat tax" does make sense. How would it work? What would it do? The average woman consumes 1,640 total calories per day including about 67 grams of fat and the average man consumes 2,500 total calories including about 103 grams of fat. Reducing fats to 24% of calories would require fat reduction of 23 grams per day for women and 36 grams per day for men (Table 1).
Table 1
FEMALE MALE Total average calories per day 1,640 2,500 37% of calories from fat (in grams) 67 103 24% of calories from fat (in grams) 44 67 Difference (in grams) 23 36
Reducing fat consumption by this much would require some dietary changes, but nothing very painful. Butter or margarine in stick form typically has 11 grams of fat per Tablespoon. Reducing fats from 37% to24% of calories requires elimination of the equivalent of about two or three Tablespoons of margarine or butter per day for the average woman or man respectively. That is something that can be done. Many salad dressings contain eight or more grams of fat per Tablespoon. Many cheeseburgers served in fast food outlets have thirty or more grams of fat.
What should we do? Let's look at a fairly extreme model: suppose we put a tax of five cents on each gram of fat in a given food product. If people did nothing and the average American continued to consume 31,000 grams of fat per year, the typical person would pay $1,550 per year in fat taxes. This is an interesting number, because it represents approximately one half of the average cost of health care per person in the United States or approximately $390 billion for the entire population. With an extra $390 billion dollars "contributed" to our government our deficit problems would seemingly disappear.
However, if this wildest of sin taxes were instituted, we would hope to see other effects. That high-fat cheeseburger with 30 grams of fat would have a tax of $1.50. Look at Table 2 below to see what would happen to some common products in the supermarket.
Table 2
PRODUCT TOTAL CURRENT FAT
NEW
FAT(g) PRICE TAX PRICE
Fleischmann's Margarine (16 oz.) 352 $0.99 $17.60 $18.59
Breyers Natural Vanilla, Chocolate, 128 $3.49 $6.40 $9.89
and Strawberry ice cream
(half gallon)
Breyers Light Vanilla, Chocolate, 64 $3.49 $3.20 $6.69
and Strawberry ice cream
(half gallon)
Dannon Blueberry Yogurt 3 $0.75 $0.15 $0.90
(8 oz.)
Dannon Blueberry Light Yogurt none $0.78 none $0.78
(8 oz.)
Wise Potato Chips (6 oz.) 60 $1.32 $3.00 $4.32
Snyder's Hard Pretzels (15.5 oz) none $1.98 none $1.98
Fleischmann's margarine, which for all intents is pure fat, would increase in price by more than eighteen times. People would either stop buying butters, margarines, oils, and fats, or would use them very sparingly. Food manufacturers would have to search for lower fat alternatives. Breyers Light Ice cream would cost approximately one third less than their regular ice cream, but would still be a luxury item. Pretzels would be a far more economical snack food than fried high-fat potato chips.
Fat consumption would change dramatically because it would save money. Lower fat and fat-free foods would abound. Society would benefit. Once at the 24% fat level, people would be leaner, healthier, and more productive. Institution of this fat tax in conjunction with public education would cause dramatic changes to take place quickly. Is it possible that in this case increased taxation could lead to a better society?
