erinmargrethe:

indefensible:

TLDR version: Rich people think poor people are so stupid that they can’t even make the right decisions on what to eat. Imagine what they think of poor people’s ability to make political decisions.

Here’s why taxing “junk” food is bullshit:

I don’t see the government trying to lay extra tax on me when I’m preparing a roast chicken by rubbing a whole stick of butter under the skin. Or when I heap a giant spoonful of expensive sea salt on my homemade mashed potatoes (which are made with another yet another stick of Tasmanian butter). There’s no extra tax on the heavy cream that I buy to make homemade ice cream. Or on the lard I buy to make tortillas from scratch. What about the full-fat ground veal, lamb, beef and pork I bought at the butcher to make ragu? None of that stuff is particularly healthy, but because I have the luxury of time, a nice kitchen and the expensive appliances to prepare it all, I’m rewarded by not having to pay the extra tax that I would if I bought a frozen lasagna or ready-made mashed potatoes from the deli counter. There’s no denying it’s class issue, and it’s enough to put me off my fatty, sugary home-cooked food.

I’M TAKING ON THE WHOLE CONTINENT NOW, BABY!

Quickly, because I have to go to a dinner party that I’ve spent the day preparing a duck for (oh god I wish I was joking).

First, I’d suggest that all of those wonderfully delicious foods you’ve listed have the distinct quality of being food not processed food products that are now being proven to contribute to obesity more so than naturally occurring fats and sugars.

More science is showing that taxing junk food tends to be more effective than subsidizing “healthy” food.

I agree that it’s a bit unfair to say that a Snickers bar is taxable junk where a pound of butter isn’t but it also strikes me as unfair that I’ve already subsidized, via the farm bill, most of the wholly unnatural substances – your trans fats and corn syrups – in that Snickers bar.

I really must be going now, I’m afraid the confit simply won’t turn out at all.