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Today I am going to talk about the issue of healthy taxes, and we ask ourselves a question in the community that is very interesting about whether it would be better if the government put more expensive prices on the products that are unhealthy, such as alcohol, cigarettes, sugar.
And we all know that anything in excess can be dangerous.
I think that evidently if some products are more expensive, some people will not be willing to buy them in large quantities, and this has its benefits and has its disadvantages.
In the part of benefits, I can mention that the highest prices will obviously produce a lower consumption, reduce the demand for these items, especially in groups or in sectors of people that are more sensitive to these costs, such as people who have little income, students, or young people.
Countries have seen where these taxes on tobacco and sugar, as Mexico and the United Kingdom, have caused a lot fewer people to buy these products.
Then we would have less consumption.
Another benefit would be that we would have a better public health system because, having less consumption, we will have fewer sick people, fewer cases of diabetes, liver diseases, lung cancer, obesity, and obviously this will reduce the burden on the entire health system. So this is another possible benefit.
We have the part that this can mean that all these taxes that are charged for these high prices for alcohol and sugar can help finance public health institutions.
Then programs or campaigns can be made to help people be aware that smoking or sugar is not good for health, and this would help.
These taxes, people or adults can have a choice to choose if they really want to consume this or prefer to lead a healthy life and eat well.
The disadvantages, well, there are also disadvantages in putting these taxes.
As I said, they affect people who have less income, but people who want to consume these products, even if they have less income, will spend a greater amount of their money on these products.
Then this could be really unfair if these people do not have other alternatives and the only products that exist are these, as it usually happens in my case that where I live I do not have other alternatives and I cannot move to another place because I have mobility problems to buy the food I need.
And although I can request that they bring it to me by delivery, because that generates an additional overpricing and financially, most of the time I cannot afford these expenses, so this is a disadvantage for me too.
The other disadvantage is that this would drive the black market, that is, it would be possible to impose an illegal trade market with cigarettes from pirate brands or alcohol, as it was being sold here in Venezuela that they sold illegal alcohol that people distilled it and did not pay taxes for it.
And then this obviously weakens politics and creates an additional problem too.
Not to mention that the companies that suffer from these taxes can pressure by reducing the number of jobs, and they would directly affect sectors that would be affected by this, such as sugar producers having to reduce their labor and tobacco farmers in the case of cigarettes and tobacco.
Then this would also affect.
And another disadvantage of these taxes is that for the government to define what is unhealthy is something controversial because then we could say that junk food is harmful, that red meat is harmful, or that even coffee or tea is harmful.
Then you have to see who draws these limits, where the limit is drawn, and this would create controversy and a debate because the government could easily be criticized.
So in general, it could be a good measure if it is well applied.
If these taxes are mixed or implemented with government-funded subsidies to fruits, vegetables, healthy food, and a treatment is offered for addictions, and also, as I said before, part of the income is used for public health programs, it could be a good measure.
But it could be bad if this measure is poorly applied, if the causes of addiction or lack of education are not addressed, it could be that the taxes do not work and end up harming the most vulnerable populations.
So I think that in general we should subsidize healthier food to make it cheaper for the population and awareness campaigns so that people know what foods are harmful, that tobacco is also harmful, and restrict the propaganda that was done here in Venezuela in the past.
The propaganda of cigarettes and alcohol were limited so that children and minors could not have access to these, and although the law does not apply and cigarettes and alcohol are sold to minors, at least something is being done and there is a law for it.
And well, this is the point of view that I have regarding this issue, that taxes can be good but they can also be bad.
