The Health Ministry has recommended that processed goods, both foods and beverages, should be taxed to discourage people from using them. The money raised would go to spending on health. That is perhaps the ‘weakest’ suggestion for this year’s budget and would win kudos for certain officials. It would be piled on to the sales tax already levied on such items as soft drinks, sweetmeats, baked goods and confectionery. This could open a Pandora’s Box as the food industry fights back. One would expect insidious attempts to sell the idea that processing is good.
Actually, there is overwhelming evidence that processed food causes a wide range of diseases, but medical science changes. There is no mention of oils and cholesterol, and there is the finding that the low density lipids in clarified butter (Desi ghee) is good, but the high density lipids in vegetable ghee is actually bad for you. We suffer from neither an obesity crisis, nor a diabetes crisis, though both conditions have increased. Rather than taxes, it would be better to raise awareness by education. For that, there should be more spending on education. Rather than fight rich countries’ diseases by taxiing processed foods, would it not be a better public-health intervention to ensure that every Pakistani got his or her daily calorie requirement?
Besides, what to do bout milk? Is its use to be encouraged or discouraged> And which milk? Loose or packet? And what about met? Should discouraging taxes be imposed on meat animals or at point of sale?
There is also the crucial issue of how the tax proceeds re to be transferred. Will they form part of the Federal Divisible Pool? If they do, how can the federal government ensure that the provinces spend the money on health rather than new cars for ministers? It must not be forgotten that health is a provincial subject, and it is possible that they might have different priorities. Even if the intention of this measure is conceded, the intervention seems ill-conceived, more meant to demonstrate ‘weakness’ rather than motivated by actual concern for the welfare of the public. Also, unless the spending is tied down, which it cannot be, it is more than likely that the revenue raised will go to general administration and interest payments.
