Healthy Taxes: A Price Worth Paying for Better Living

Naturally, when prices of certain products go high, the demand will reduce. People's decision on purchasing such products will be influenced indirectly. Sometimes, depending on the product , people will start adjusting or looking for an alternative product to survive with or simply buying less of the same product due to the high cost. This way, people are indirectly controlled over the use of a particular product.

Today, I am discussing healthy taxes, whether it's a good idea for the government to impose hefty taxes on some unhealthy products like alcoholic drinks, cigarettes, sugar, etc., which humans consume in excess, causing dangers to their health.

To start with, we must have government leaders who are interested in the good health of their citizens and not necessarily the tax policy. Once this is achieved , then having such a policy becomes achievable. Go to the market today and see how expensive healthy products are; it's terrible. Yet, we are being encouraged to eat healthy. Sincerely , this kind of tax looks like a great idea , but the implementation depends on what the government wants for the people they lead. If they can work on making healthy products more affordable , then the citizens wouldn't see an excuse to give when such a policy is placed.

We can obviously see how these unhealthy products are affecting people badly. Smokers suffer lung issues due to excessive intake. Alcoholic drinks go straight to the liver to affect it when taken excessively , the same with sugar and how it's associated with diabetes and others. I haven't seen anyone who consumes these products in moderation suffer the negative effects, but the problem is that people embrace the intake of these products as a good lifestyle, thereby getting addicted to it, and thus the health issues emanate from it.

I remember my encounter with a man one evening. I was coming out from an event venue, and then the man approached me , begging for alms. I looked at him and saw hunger written all over him. I was touched and told him to wait a little while I returned back to the event venue to source food for him. Surprisingly , this man declined; he said he prefers money. I was surprised because I felt he needed food first before money, at least, and then I gave him the little token left with me. I was still standing with my friend at the entrance , gisting, and at the sight of this man, he had already purchased a hot drink with the money. Like, seriously? This is not happening , I said silently.

Then a woman selling things around the place told me that it's how the man behaves. He is so addicted to alcoholic drinks to the point that he detests food. His look is so bad; he is malnourished and looks sick. Who knows what exactly is going on in his body system due to excessive consumption of these unhealthy products?

The example I gave above is common to other people suffering addiction. Too much of a bad thing is worse than too much of a good thing, and that's why I am saying YES to this hefty tax idea from the government on unhealthy products. I am sure that it wouldn't prevent people from consuming it, but at least the rate of consumption will be reduced when the cost of purchase of these products goes higher.

Overall, this move will be hard for chronic addicts, but it will help their health to a great extent.

This post is in response to the #HiveLearners contest on the topic titled, HEALTHY TAX

Images are mine