A Posteriori

With the Canadian health care system paid for by all taxpayers through general taxation and health care premiums, it astonishes me that the government doesn’t adjust the taxation system to punish those who chose unhealthy lifestyles, and reward those who choose healthy lifestyles.

Oh sure, there are the sin taxes on tobacco and alcohol. However, these taxes are meant mainly to raise government raise revenue and in some cases to reinforce government monopolies and maintaining high-paid union jobs. They have far less to do with discouraging unhealthy habits.

I find it outrageous that I should have to pay sales tax on my gym membership, since I’m effectively saving the government money spent on future health care costs related to heart disease and being obesity. It’s also silly that somebody who chooses to eat out at McDonald’s pays the same sales tax as somebody who eats at Subway (yes, it’s possible to eat an unhealthy sub at Subway and to eat a somewhat healthy salad at McDonald’s, but I digress).

One of the reasons that people choose to eat junk food instead of healthy food is that it’s cheaper and quicker to eat junk food than healthy food, as a rule. It should be possible to remove such a disincentive to healthy eating by levelling the playing field. There should be a junk food tax. With the incidence of diabetes among the next generation likely to be high, it just makes sense. Foods deemed to be healthy (and the rules for what constitutes “healthy” food could potentially be elaborate) should not be taxed at all.

And while each respective level of government at it, they can do far more than remove the sales tax on gym memberships. They can make it easier for people to get exercise during their day to day living with their hectic schedules. Office buildings, apartment buildings and condo buildings should be given incentives to reserve and maintain rooms with exercise equipment. Office buildings should leave staircases open so as to give people the option of using the stairs instead of the elevator. Municipal governments should build more bike paths, make life easier for pedestrians and harder for motorists. Encourage people to burn less fuel (which is getting more expensive and less abundant) and to burn more calories (still plenty of those to go around ).

The consequences of unhealthy living on our health care system are dire and just as impossible to ignore. Healthy living (along with prevention) is the best medicine.