Jon Steindor Valdimarsson, head of the Federation of Icelandic Industries, says the Minister for Health’s idea to put a special tax on sugary drinks is “unbelievable”. It is, he says, too easy to blame bad dental health solely on sugary drinks.
“It’s just unbelievable to hear Ogmundur Jonasson’s plans to treat children’s tooth decay by taxing sugar-sweetened fizzy drinks. It’s fair to say I thought we’d already said goodbye to this sort of tax idea,” he told mbl.is.
Valdimarsson points to inflation as a reason to abandon the idea, as fizzy drinks are already more expensive than ever. On the other hand, Icelandic children and teenagers do drink a higher-than average amount of the sweet stuff: http://www.icenews.is/index.php/2008/11/23/high-consumption-of-fizzy-drinks/
(Photo: Mbl.is/Kristinn)
If preventing tooth decay is the rationale for this new tax, then the politicians should also tax fruit juices:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6928131.stm
Also, Guinness should then be imported and sold tax-free because its low sugar content is much less harmful to teeth than orange juice.
Tax the crappy antidepressants (sweets) and lower the prices of all fruits and vegetables.
There has been data for many years that vitamin D deficiency results in tooth decay. Probably there are few countries in the world where vitamin D deficiency is more widespread that Iceland because of it latitute.Take a look at www.vitamind3UK.com for some good summaries of the data. The site also offers a good newsletter
Red-Green coalition now after lapdancing ban wants to find an excuse to raise taxes and of course “it for the children” is always a good one to try and see just how weak minded populace are.