No plans for 'fat VAT'
Plans for a "fat tax" on unhealthy foods in the battle against obesity are not on the cards, despite national newspaper reports.
The Publican has discovered that last week's reports in The Times and other papers claiming that the government was intending to increase the tax on pub grub favourites, such as burgers and chips, are unfounded.
The Times reported that Personal Responsibility and Changing Behaviour, written by the government's Strategy Unit, says: "There might be potential to consider fiscal measures - a 'fatty food tax' applied to food, not people - or different VAT treatment for foods with poor nutritional standards."
Such a tax would increase the prices of foods often found in pubs and could be extended to dairy produce including butter, full-fat milk and cheese.
The results would be a big price rise for all food customers from supermarket shoppers to chefs. In turn, pubs would be forced to increase prices, which would inevitably have a negative effect on profits.
But a closer reading of the government's paper by The Publican reveal things are not as bad as they seem. The report is clearly marked as ideas for discussion only - not the basis for government policy. And proposals for "fat VAT" as it has become known, are not considered viable.
"The British Medical Association recently discussed proposals to raise tax on fatty food," the paper says. "How-ever, there are no signs that any current western government sees proposals of this kind as desirable or feasible."
Instead the paper suggests a number of other ways to fight the rise in obesity in Britain. It says, for instance, that an Active Australia campaign has been successful in encouraging Australians to participate in sport and suggests that a similar programme could be taken up in the UK.
An examination of the marketing of unhealthy foods would also be appropriate, the report says. But the possibility of health warnings on junk food is also proposed, as is getting GPs to advise overweight patients on nutritional issues.
