» A Tax on Chocolate?

In my last post I said that telling me not to think about chocolate would stack up there as one of my worst nightmares. So you can imagine my reaction to the proposal from a Scottish doctor, reported on the BBC website today, to TAX CHOCOLATE!!

When I’d calmed down enough to read it I had to admit that there is sense behind his reasoning:

Increased chocolate consumption is contributing to increasing rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes according to Dr David Walker, a Lanarkshire GP who is also a trained food scientist and nutritionist. He goes on to suggest that many people have stopped seeing chocolate as an occasional treat, and that the almost 1,200 calories contained in a 225g bag of chocolate sweets is approaching 50% of a man’s recommended daily calorie intake. On top of normal meals, that’s a massive increase in daily calories which, Dr Walker estimates, would take 3 hours continuous walking to burn off.

The negative health implications of increased chocolate consumption create additional costs for health services in the same way that alcohol and cigarette related illnesses do, not to mention the impact on the health of the individual. He comments that fast food and junk food get a lot of negative publicity, but chocolate escapes this. Dr Walker believes a tax would help reduce consumption, and suggests the money could be used to fund sports facilities.

“I had one patient recently who said to me she thought chocolate was good for you. People are being brainwashed into believing this.” He says in the article.

And there’s the rub:

Studies also show that chocolate makes you feel good. And Dr Walker isn’t suggesting we give it up altogether; he believes some people are eating too much on a daily basis and need to reduce their intake to more sensible levels.

Just after Christmas I wrote a post about how you can give up chocolate which will help if you think you eat too much. The method will work for any food or drink you want to consume less of.

The BBC report a similar debate back in 2003 failed to achieve any action, and that general opinion is that such taxes mean people spend more, rather than having the desired effect. But what do you think?

Should chocolate be taxed?