Bad Habits, Hard Choices: Using the Tax System to Make Us Healthier (Perspectives)

Consumers in Britain face a curious mix of taxes and duties that are messy, opaque and out of date. They are also unfair: the poorer you are, the more of your income goes on paying these taxes. At the same time, we are ceaselessly bombarded by marketing information that is very one-sided. The foods that make us fat, for example, are promoted a great deal more than the foods that could keep us healthy - and again it is mainly the poor that bear the brunt. This book draws on insights from behavioural economics, participative decision-making and the author's twenty-five-year research career to take a fresh look at these issues. It concludes that there is a fair, inclusive, adaptable, affordable and resilient way of enabling us to eat healthily and to tackle the obesity crisis. The author proposes that negative VAT should be charged on healthy foods and high VAT should be charged on unhealthy foods. The book sets out a four-step process to actually implement this new regime, each step of which depends on mechanisms that have already been used by government. It is a bold yet practical proposition for tackling one of the most costly and damaging challenges we face. "In this book David Fell locates taxation as a public good. Countries and wars have been started over taxes and there is, for most of us, an initial reluctance to accept more taxes. The case for taxes and negative taxes to improve public health is made in a clear and easily accessible style. He shows us how taxes can be introduced and met with public acceptance, and how to manage initial public perceptions of them as 'bad'. This book should be compulsory reading for all those thinking of introducing food taxes." Martin Caraher, Professor of Food and Health Policy, Centre for Food Policy, City University London "The fact that I read, at one sitting, a book on VAT is a tribute to Fell's ability as a writer. I liked the book very much - original, informative and well argued." David Cadman, Visiting Professor at University College London and the University of Maryland, and Harmony Professor of Practice at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David "Fell's book is really easy to read and accessible. I love the way the basic idea can so simply be extended to help create the socially, environmentally and financially fair society we seek." Robin Stott, author of The Ecology of Health and co-chair of the Climate & Health Council David Fell is a researcher, writer, presenter and activist in the field of sustainable economics. He is director and co-founder of the research and strategy consultancy Brook Lyndhurst. David has a degree in economics from Cambridge University; he has twenty-five years' research and strategy experience for clients in the government, private and not-for-profit sectors; and he was a founding commissioner on the London Sustainable Development Commission.