Government to introduce toilet paper tax to deal with epidemic of over rubbing arse with excessive toilet paper.

The Irish government is considering a sugar tax to get more money, not tackle obesity. I hate it when we’re lied to like five year olds…

in Ireland first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get d’wimmin.

A lot are missing the point. This is not about tackling obesity. This is about generating revenue. No more, no less..

instead of a tax what about actually regulating what goes into our food? that way we all win, there’s been a big campaign regarding salt why not the same with sugar? in the long term this would mean less health problems as our sugar intake from foods we don’t expect to contain sugar would be dropped.

This is just another f*cking stealth tax! Are they going to use this money to educate people about diabetes and what to signs to look out for?? NOPE just more money to be wasted by a bunch arseholes on their expenses, government jets, fancy hotels & offices, 3 sectaries and a mobile phone!!
Please piss off government and leave us alone there is only so much you can squeeze out of us!!!

First, this is almost certainly just another stealth tax.

Second, it’d be interesting to see whether the Irish people finally revolted over something as comparatively trivial as a tax on sugar……much as many in the American colonies once revolted over a tax on tea, or Gandhi did over a tax on salt.

What will Ireland’s symbolic step-too-far be, I wonder?

not opposed to the tax but isn’t sugar in absolutely everything ? does it tax fruit because there is natural sugar in it ? they should just make nutritional value on food easier identified! it is the persons problem that they brought on themselves not the government!!

If the TD’s taxed their own food intake we could reduce all taxes. Look at the level of obesity in the Dail.
It should be called Dail Farm after the relatives in the UK
My last comment was censored so I hope this passes the test.

They can piss off and try to tax me for that too.. seriously. I’m done with this crap.. if this idea comes to fruition then I am going to evade payment of as much taxes/levies/charges as I can.. no more dog licence, tv licence or tax on the car that I drive about 1000 miles per year. Every day that passes it seems more like a case of them versus us.

But when tesco value cola is cheaper than value water … it does make sense.

They will take my bar of Dairy Milk from my cold, dead hands.
Go ahead, government, make my day. Aren’t we paying through the nose for everything already? Go away, nanny state.

Eating sugar?

That’s a paddlin’

I wish the government would just Fu*k off and stop trying to bring in stealth tax as and disguise it as trying to do good for fat people! Won’t stop them eating or drinking food with sugar in it!!

Funny thing is, the govt were looking at reviving the sugar industry. Putting a tax on sugar would put alot of foodstuffs up in price. Maybe they should just ban carbohydrates and put us all on the Atkins diet. Agreed there is a lot of obesity out there but this seems nuts. They should probably tax all processed foods and get people to cook fresh unpackaged veg and meat. See the lads in the ivory towers ate getting inventive.

Enda was photographed a few days ago slugging a Coke. A sugar tax seems unlikely due to the influence of industry on government.

This is fantastic. We can also have a butter-cream-oils-icecream-spreads tax. A salt tax would be good too. While we re at it, we should increase the alcohol tax and ban tobacco altogether. A red meat tax would help cholesterol issues. Gosh, we would not only be soooooooo healthy we would have taxed the economy back to health.

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse they take away your right to a Golden Crisp.
Well. I’m off.

Here’s an idea, just take all our wages Then we won’t be able to eat and the obesity problem will vanish. I so want to leave this joke of a place Raged!!!

Spot on Conor

Huge taxes on cigarettes doesn’t stop smokers from smoking. A tax on sugar won’t stop people consuming sugar.

Another dopey idea from a dopey spineless government.

Hard to tackle such a huge issue like obesity by taxing sugar. When will we address the real problems, such as the cheap availability of fast food and proper health education for our young. We need to educate to create a more health conscious society, this is just another attempt by the gov to sniff out some revenue streams. Quite an innovative bunch we have!

is this the same government that has 10 machines in every hospital churning out mars bars crisps and cola

enda kenny at the opening of a new cocacola plant during the week seems hypocrisy to me

Great idea!!! Wake up people we are broke and hitting the cookie jar too
Much! I think there should be a tax break for gyms and paid outdoor activities! Encourage exercise!

I’d love too see a tax on cotton huddies to fund huddie related crime. I refer to cotton because it is a pointless hud that does not offer defense from the weather.

Nonsense! They should tax fastfood and the likes, not sugar…

so basically what they’re saying is “lets get fat people to eat the country out of this mess!!” im so glad for the intellectual might of today’s fine leaders!

For most of human history, food was scarce. Those individuals with a genetic propensity to store fat survived. Fast forward to the modern world, and energy-dense food is available to most people in the West, as well as large swathes of the developing world. The inbuilt neurobiological mechanisms driving consumption of sugar and fat haven’t changed. It’s just that the environment has. It is nonsense to think a tax will change this. It will, however, impoverish the poor still further (they can’t afford expensive fruit, veg and fish) and encourage black markets. It is also unlikely the money will be ring fenced and will just go to pay off the bankers. So much for health promotion. The nanny state won’t alter neurobiology and genetics.
Anyway when the world economy goes belly-up nobody will be able to afford food.. and the obese and overweight will inherit the world, as their genetically adapted ancestors did in the past.

This really takes the biscuit.

Go ahead, bring in a sugar tax; but hows about making healthy food more affordable by reducing or removing the VAT etc from it’s cost. There is no incentive for people to eat healthily in this country because the healthy food stuffs(veg, fruit etc) costs way more than the rubbish food. If the government really wants to tackle the obesity epidemic, as opposed to yet ANOTHER revenue raising exercise, then this is what they need to address.

They close the sugar beet factory in mallow and now want to introduce a sugar tax. In my opinion This country is becoming a big s***hole.

Why does everyone else have to suffer because some people are being irresponsible?

Well, this could work out in two ways. People could give up consuming sugar to spite the government(‘s new tax) in which case the incidence of obesity and diebetes presumably goes down and so the government wins, or people can keep on consuming sugar and pay the extra 5 or 10c tax on chocolate or a ready-made meal, in which case the government raises more money to pay for much needed public services, and wins. Hmm… tough one.

I’d be fine with it if they offer tax credits for healthy food, leisure holidays, bicycles, toothbrushes, gym membership, weight watchers classes etc.

Or maybe this tax take could go towards properly educating the public on healthy living.

No? Didn’t think so.

George Harrison was right – the clever penny’s on your eye.

I’m a big woman because I eat savoury foods not sweet sugary foods, I eat healthy food just far too much of it. My portion sizes are huge and the selection of foods we have now are just heavenly maybe they should stop showing all those lovely food programmes and hide the recipes

Why not a Salt tax, thats bad too! Heart attacks n’ all. Gotta look after your little tickers!

Wtf ???
Is this for real ?

obesity doesn’t just occur because of the sole act of scoffing sweets, many of these people got this way through intense unhappiness. they need emotional and mental support, not taxing. but is it really about the obesity issue- is it a good idea to tax yet another thing that people enjoy during such difficult times? sales of chocolate have actually shot up during the recession- a small pleasure surely when all else sucks! they dont want to actually tackle obesity, they are asking themselves, what to people enjoy and will pay more for rather than do without?

Do they think a fat bastard is going to put the mars bar down because it costs an extra 5c? If they want to tackle obesity why not refuse to pay for doctors fee for obesity related illnesses for people on the dole. Or put a weighing scales in the dole office and deduct cash for every stone overweight. I tell ya, ya might laugh but the French would do it I’d say.

If they want to tackle this properly they should pay someone with type 2 diabetes to visit schools to show kids their ulcerated legs.

Just look at our TD’s they could be suicide bombers as they look like they are about to explode. All this when people this week are having their ESB or Gas cut off or their houses taken back and loosing their jobs.
They need to wake up to reality. Start in the civil service where top brass walk away at 56 with stacks of cash and we are told we have to work longer to pay for it.
When is the next protest Fintan?

Just avoid sugar, it’s basically a poison to your body anyway (insulin resistance, pulmonary diseases, obesity) and highly addictive.
We should boycott products, as much as possible, that are being newly taxed, obviously within reason.

they obviously think the only way to cure a problem is to make it cost more typical right wing muppets

FG the party of the people…change you can believe in!!! The 5 point plan…..chuckle, oh you Irish lol

I wonder if the plastic bag levy was introduced today, would people cry about it being a stealth tax?

A good idea is a good idea, regardless of the circumstances at the time.

I wonder how much it costs yearly to fluoridate (medicate) the water supply. Perhaps if they banned it, like they promised they would if they got elected it might save a few quid, not to mention improve the health of the Irish people!!

I think this a genius idea. Obviously, it’s a tax to increase the government coffers, as are all taxes, but ultimately that money could be used to fund any number of things. Education to fight obesity. Health education programs come to mind immediately , or it could be used to help repair our horrible health service, however more money doesn’t seem to help the HSE, it just makes it worse… previous government solutions were based on throwing more and more money at the HSE. Maybe it could be invested in our horrible broadband infrastructure, towards job creation, or to invest in green energy … or maybe it will just go towards paying our debts to the IMF so we can regain economic sovereignty that we lost under Fianna FAIL.

Taxing alcohol would be counter productive to tourism and would hurt already hurting pubs… As far as tax ideas go this fairly creative.

this is an absolute contradiction if they also plan to restart the sugar industry here. Typical example where inter-departmental communication is non-existant… I applaude the idea for being innovative & it could turn out to be a huge beneficial aid in reducing our growing populations wastelines but really, just get them off the couch & out contributing to society more. Obesity can be linked to psychologically ‘traumatic’ and environmental influences more so than diet in some cases therefore more investment in mental health, community projects and occupational therapy services would be more practical as they have already implimenting austerity measures here..

As a dentist and member of the Irish Dental Association IDA I find it hypocritical that in today´s Irish Times http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/health/2011/1115/1224307575065.html my professional body is calling for a similar sugar tax when they clearly support links to the same industry on their website – http://www.dentist.ie/links/. Wrigleys is a multinational company which adds sugar to at least 50% of its products – sweetened gum.

Agree with going after the soft drinks first. However, if the logic is to tax what causes obesity, then surely the Science says that it’s not just sugar (fructose, corn syrups) that needs to be taxed but also other almost equally fattening and obesity-contributing carbohydrates like flour, pasta, rice, potatoes, bread, cakes and biscuits. Ironically, eating fatty foods (butter, lard, fatty red meat) won’t make you fat, but will clog your arteries! I thought this should be mentioned as one Minister’s early take on this was to talk about bringing in a butter tax. It is widely misunderstood that eating fat will make you fat. Untrue. Eating carbohydrates makes you fat.

Obesity is a very serious problem in parts of the states due to competitive economics ruling over there health system!

It is not too much of a problem over here yet and I think that this is a GREAT idea to sustain peoples health and part of the solution to get us out of this mess.

Sorry folks!

You can just see the headlines in a few years. " â

Due North