For The People...
The idea behind a healthy task is actually a good one. As far as I’m concerned, anything that has the potential to turn out to be good for the people will definitely be something that I’ll take part in. Making dangerous consumables more expensive will very well redefine the market, and people will be forced to seek alternatives and even change their lifestyles.
There is actually nothing more motivating than money. Making money, or the fear of losing more money, will always be a great motivator when it comes to doing certain things. Not everyone can afford to live life as they choose, and once the little pleasures become unaffordable for the majority, it will become nothing but a luxury.
But then, you could ask, why not just ban it outright? The truth is, making such things illegal won’t work; it might only end up making things worse. There are a lot of banned commodities, but still, we find them on our streets. Weed, hard drugs, weapons, these are all banned items and commodities, yet people still find a way to get them. And because of the fact that they’re expensive and the sellers have to go through clandestine channels to get them to their consumers, it makes it all expensive. Yeah… anything sold illegally will never be cheap.
And if it must be sold legally, then taxes must be paid on them. So, people still have the right to sell them, just that their profits in that particular segment may drop. And as long as it’s legal, there would be no way to sell it in the black market because there would be no trouble with getting such products around.
So yeah, I believe this will be a great investment for the government. The taxes that will be levied on such products will be helpful in developing key sectors of the government and, as such, help in the growth of the nation and the people.
Because when we think about it, what exactly do we gain from sugar? We might say glucose, but that’s not just gotten from sugar. It can be gotten from so many other food sources. Sugar will always be a favorite simply because it makes things sweet. That’s something even I am guilty of. We take tea in the morning, we take soda in the afternoon, and we take pap in the evening. Other major foods we eat during the course of the day also contain sugar in one form or the other.
The accumulation of these things doesn’t help us in the long run. Alcohol ends up destroying our lungs and liver, and even kidneys. Sugar puts us at risk of diabetes, and smoking also puts our liver at great risk. These are not issues that come up shortly after use, they only come up after a long time. Once a tolerance level has been set and we’ve gotten addicted to using them. While our body might be able to tolerate such substances, it doesn’t mean their effects are minute.
So yeah, I’ll definitely support such a move. It might be hard, but it will help many others to be able to get off some really dangerous addictions. I know that it might not change for some people, after all, chronic addicts will go to any lengths to pay for whatever it is that they want. However, I’m pretty certain that in the end, the amount of such products that are consumed will be reduced greatly.
That’s the goal.
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Thank you for this.
Hmmm...
You said as long as they want to sell unhealthy products legally then, they must pay taxes. So who would pay the hefty tax, the manufacturer or the merchant/retailers? Because the product can't pay taxes by itself.
I mean if a manufacturer is to pay $100 on 50CL drink that cost $200. If the manufacturer were to reduce it into 5cl containers would it not be cheaper. I mean it will definitely reduce the rate of consumption since 50CL will be too expensive to buy but it won't reduce availablity since anyone can still afford to buy 5cl.
If you say the merchant should pay, how many of these merchant or retailers selling unhealthy substances have registered enterprises? Especially when it comes to drugs. Will the government be able to tax unregistered enterprises? For example, those malam and aboki selling drugs and cigarettes in the street, who would tax them? How many of them can the government track?
lastly, knowing the corrupt nature of our government officials, dont you think they would care more about the revenue generated from unhealthy products instead of seeing it as an act of reducing the consumption of unhealthy products. You said illegal drugs can be sold legally as long as they pay the additional tax, this would only make the drugs more rampant in our society and create more source of revenue for the government, which might not be used for the benefits of the citizens.
This would cause greater chaos in the society, i still prefer total eradication of unhealthy products over hefty taxes.
Wow... this is great.
But then, I didn't think of the unregistered retailers because many of them don't even pay their taxes. However, if the government is to be serious with this, they might have to consider taxing the manufacturers. They're the only ones that the government can get to in a country like ours. However the manufacturers plan to make their money post-taxes will be up to them. No matter how small they make them, I still believe that if it's too expensive, not a lot of people will be inclined to buy them because most of these things are not essential commodities.
And for your closing statement, total eradication might not work because the only way to achieve that would be an outright ban on such, and that will only make it even more expensive because then they would be contraband and the risk of bringing such goods into the country will drive their prices up. This is the issue that is rampant with hard drugs, motivated people will always find a way to get it into the country. Besides, I don't think commodities like sugar can be banned. Because we still need such things, but due to the high cost, people will take less and less of it. If you were the kind to use six cubes in your tea, you'd reduce it to 1 or two. Because you're trying to save money.
But then, as you said, our leaders don't seem to care about us and only care about what goes into their pockets. It sure sucks!
You are right
Compared to drugs, unhealthy substances like sugar and the likes of it seems secondary. I believe there is a way to merge both total eradication and application of extra levies. In the sense that, the most dangerous ones should be completed banned e.g drugs, cigarette and alcohol. Since these ones have the highest rate of being traded through unregistered merchants and manufactures. Moreover most the manufacturers of some illegal drugs are not situated in our country, ehich would make ut a lot harder to tax them.
While sugar and others in it's category can be taxed, to reduce the rate of consumption. I mean these ones are usually sold in the open and are more attached to day to day usage.
Implementing the policy in this pattern will assist the government in controlling the rate of illegal drugs in our society and reduce the consumption rate of unhealthy groceries.
I just feel it is ethically wrong for the government to allow all sort of illegal items yo be sold and make profit from the sales of it through taxation, at the expense of the citizens. It makes you wonder, who exactly is the government trying yo help? It won't be long before the aim of a move like this is lost amidst the quest for profit.
Yeah... that's correct. When it becomes profit-based rather than the wellbeing of the people, we forget the real reason such a tax was introduced in the first place. It's just a complex situation!!
A very surprising issue. How does all the banned products gets into the country? This shows how also the government are corrupt.
And the issue with alcohol 🍺, cigarettes and other hard drugs is that those in the governments has hands on their importation, making side money 💰 apart from all the embezzlement.
So who will take the action of imposing hefty taxes when they are the once involved. Using the poor citizens to make money 💵. They do not care about the health of the masses.
Thanks for sharing @bruno-kema. Happy weekend.
Government is corupt, borders are porous. Things that shouldn't move around end up being moved. It's sad, but it is what it is. It's scary indeed.
I also think banning is not the solution. I love sweets and that's why I wrote a post about the topic I never mentioned the name of sugar😅.
Hehe... sugar will definitely be the end of some of us because this is something I'm also guilty of. I really need to reduce my sugar intake even more.