Fast Food Taxation in India
Another enviable tax can soon be a possibility in India! This time it is the Fast-Food items that have come under the scanner of the Central Government.
Currently,
no fast-food items fall under the high tax bracket. The non-branded chips and
bhujias fall under the 5% GST bracket while for the branded ones it is 12%
History of Fast-food Taxation in the
World and India
Denmark
was the first country to have introduced a fast-food tax in 2011 but soon had
to get done away with it because the people used to buy the taxed item across
the border. This was an eye-opener that the use of a negative approach to the
central problem in consideration will always show resistance.
France
too introduced a tax on sugary drinks in 2014 considering rising cardiovascular
diseases. They believed that if tobacco and alcohol are perceived to be sin
goods so shall the beverages be!
In
India, there had been attempts too at the State level as the government of
Kerala introduced a 14.5% tax, to which the food giants responded positively.
They didn’t pass on the entire cost to the customers hence, not much change in
the consumption of junk foods was observed.
Common Problem Observed
The
common problem which has been observed from the cases of the world and India is
that taxation alone can’t be the solution to curb non-communicable diseases. A
well-sought action plan should be chalked out including boosting the change in
consumption pattern of the consumers otherwise by the end of 2030, India will
account for 30% of the world obesity!
Measures to be combined along with
Taxation
Alone Fast-food tax cannot meet the objective, to make people adopt a healthy lifestyle but they need nudging (a slight push towards adopting a healthy lifestyle here) by introducing several other measures complementing the taxation, which are stated below:
- Public health awareness: Creating awareness among the public about the ill-effects of fast-food’s increased consumption and adopting a healthier lifestyle can significantly complement the Fast-food tax without burdening their pockets irrespective of their income level. As people spend more time in schools, colleges, and workplaces, so this can be done in such areas.
- Subsidies on healthy food items: Government can ensure the implementation of subsidies on unsaturated fatty acid food items, fresh fruits, and vegetables to promote healthy consumption habits as an overall public health nutrition program.
- Accessibility to healthy foods: Government can ensure better accessibility of healthy food items and provision of nutrition education at public places, including hospitals, malls, shopping centers, colleges, etc., as these are the places where there is increased public spending on food items.
Conclusion
The
nationwide introduction of Fast-food tax can be considered as beneficial in
reducing the increasing number of obese people and also act as a revenue stream
for the nation’s economy, but one has to focus on its ethicality is the
autonomy of the public to choose and make a decision what they want to buy
between fast-food and healthy food according to their eating preferences and to
have daily access to food items at a reasonable cost that is affordable for all.
However, Government can implement the above-said measures to complement the
fast-food taxation to nudge people into adopting a healthier lifestyle but
still one can raise the question, of whether restricting a particular food
product through taxation is ethically acceptable or not.
References:
Didn't know any such tax was imposed anywhere, but got to know abt it. Adequate information 👍🏼
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