Higher tax on sweetened beverages expected to reduce public health woes

[jvs]

1 hour ago, yellowboat said:

Gatoraide

You should google the sugar content in this stuff,very high.

[Vacuum]

3 hours ago, overherebc said:

Don't forget the ubiquitous MSG 

Have you ever had any side effects from MSG?

[johnny49r]

8 hours ago, rooster59 said:

The government expects its decision to levy higher taxes on sugary drinks from next month will help improve the health of Thai people.

So the government cares about it's people and sees coke as a major threat to their health and well being?

I guess only the poor will be healthier but the rich will still get diabetes.

 

[spidermike007]

An administration that is totally devoid of talent, vision, intelligence, and policy, will always resort to taxes instead of creative policy. One thing you can be assured of. This has nothing to do with the health of the Thai people. That is the last thing in the world this army is concerned about. It is never about the common man for them. Never. 

[howbri]

Sugar is certainly not a health food but it is demonized far beyond it's guilt. For example, it doesn't cause diabetes as the propaganda suggests. IT'S THE FOOD, primarily animal protein/saturated fat that should be eliminated from diets. Go to plant-based diet, especially starchy veggies such as (beans, potato, corn, pumpkin, squash, rice) and most disease would be eliminated. Plant-based diet is the healthiest diet on the planet.

[Sailboat]

8 hours ago, unamazedloso said:

Pm2.5 is 133 in kanchanaburi this morning. Thai government dont care about the health of people clearly. They just want more stupid tanks, submarines and helicopter's. 

I should add that if you buy and consume fattening things its your own fault. How much help does the government really assist with that calls for a tax increase?

Its all bs...

Don't you understand? Raising taxes is for own good. Can you think of a better way for the government to prove it cares about it's citizens other then raise tax? 

 

[happy chappie]

2 hours ago, Jip99 said:

 

 

So are you saying that you are against taxes on unhealthy products?

It's a lot easier to put restrictions on the amounts of sugar content the foods and drinks that are sold but it's a lot more profitable to the governments to tax and allow these items still to be sold even though they say they are bad for you.tax is not a deterrent it's a money maker.

[overherebc]

47 minutes ago, Vacuum said:

Have you ever had any side effects from MSG?

No, because I don't eat Thai food. I cook 95% of what I eat and never eat from road side 'restaurants' etc.

Friend does suffer a bit from it if he gets it accidently.

Cook your own food properly and all you need to add is enough salt ( which is not much ) to enhance taste. Your body does need some.

Only sugar I add to anything is in coffee or tea.

[Gandtee]

7 hours ago, quadperfect said:

Reading stuff like this confirms that the government here really does think there population cant think. 

Perhaps they are right? We have wearing black and funeral rites for animals and hardly a blink when twelve young people perish in a road accident.

[toenail]

...and put a tax on sticky rice, that seems to add weight also to Thais

 

[happy chappie]

It's starts with sugar tax,then it'll be salt tax,then it'll be caffeine tax,then it'll be fat tax...we will all have to live on porridge,bananas and carrots. 

[overherebc]

16 minutes ago, happy chappie said:

It's starts with sugar tax,then it'll be salt tax,then it'll be caffeine tax,then it'll be fat tax...we will all have to live on porridge,bananas and carrots. 

As a skinny old fart I don't care about the fat tax. ????????

Porridge with the right amount of salt, that's good for you. Followed by a cup of black coffee it gets 'things' moving in the morning. ????????

[IAMHERE]

Cutting out the hours of alcohol sales didn't work, higher taxes on alcohol didn't work; why is there hope that taxing sugar is going to help?

[zhorik]

Nothing wrong in the concept, but it is a long term process. IN the UK it simply meant people still drank or  switched to the sugar free drinks that contain substances equally bad for  health,

[Lacessit]

Given the amount of sugar Thais ladle on to their food to soften the chili kick, I really don't think the sugar industry is going to be too worried.

I've had several Thais aghast at me using chili on my food without sugar.

It wasn't so long ago Mitrpol purchased a big chunk of the Australian sugar industry from CSR, so that is one measure of the addiction.

Edited September 29, 2019 by Lacessit

[Percy P]

10 hours ago, unamazedloso said:

Pm2.5 is 133 in kanchanaburi this morning. Thai government dont care about the health of people clearly. They just want more stupid tanks, submarines and helicopter's. 

I should add that if you buy and consume fattening things its your own fault. How much help does the government really assist with that calls for a tax increase?

Its all bs...

What happens with the extra tax collected

[observer90210]

Hurt people's wallets and they can learn, no doubt.

 

But such steps must be backed with properly educating public and regularly making nationwide campaigns against the harmful side effects from over consumption of soft drinks with excessive suger and harmful additives.

 

But how to convince a poor man on survival mode that smoking and coke is bad ? Does he really care ?

[Percy P]

10 hours ago, unamazedloso said:

Pm2.5 is 133 in kanchanaburi this morning. Thai government dont care about the health of people clearly. They just want more stupid tanks, submarines and helicopter's. 

I should add that if you buy and consume fattening things its your own fault. How much help does the government really assist with that calls for a tax increase?

Its all bs...

Suger cane growers will be complaining next.

[Destiny1990]

10 hours ago, canuckamuck said:

Sugar intake is a real problem in this country for sure. But the choices for unsweetened or sugar free drinks here are quite limited. I think you need to have those alternatives before you are going to see change.

Doesn't effect me. I only drink water, black coffee or tea with nothing added. And even with that, weight loss is difficult for me.

Fyi certain foods are loaded with sugar as well!

[Percy P]

10 hours ago, canuckamuck said:

Sugar intake is a real problem in this country for sure. But the choices for unsweetened or sugar free drinks here are quite limited. I think you need to have those alternatives before you are going to see change.

Doesn't effect me. I only drink water, black coffee or tea with nothing added. And even with that, weight loss is difficult for me.

I have no problem with weight eat whay i want weight stays the same. Don't have suger and a pinch of salt .Now salt can be a big health problem with Thais my be not immediately but it is a cause of high blood pressure in later life.

Edited September 29, 2019 by Percy P
Mistake

[madmin]

Better to tax the raw sugar then everything that has sugar added will be reduced, dunking doughnuts champions beware lol

[Guderian]

I wonder how long it'll take for them to decide that imported wine has a high sugar content and needs to be taxed some more?

[rwill]

12 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Higher tax on sweetened beverages expected to reduce public health woes

by giving them less to spend on health care.

[Percy P]

9 hours ago, quadperfect said:

Reading stuff like this confirms that the government here really does think there population cant think. 

And rightly so .Laws are made to protect people from their own folly.

[Percy P]

10 hours ago, ezzra said:

Overly sugary drinks and food stuff have become, in the name of free commerce, out of control, where profit was put above all and the government was left to pick up the health bills, in in my opinion, if enough people will consume far lees of them, then it's worth it...

I ordered noodle soup from a Thai restaurant and it was full of suger and there was more sugar to have on the table.

[emptypockets]

6 hours ago, DPKANKAN said:

A lot of problem is lack of education about many things including food, sugars etc. Even the younger chefs coming through have sweeter tastes and make so food much too sweet to eat.

What the government should be saying is use alternatives to sugar!!, but, then, where is sugar grown??? mmmm.

Pretty well all over the world. Why do you ask? 

[Baggy]

10 hours ago, Cadbury said:

That seems a very optimistic outcome. The consequences of the higher tax might be:

1. Prices will go up and sales might go down and health woes might reduce. Or maybe sales won't go down and the sugar addiction will continue.

2. If the tax seriously impacts on sales then the rich beverage producers will start to scream. Likewise retailers of sugary drinks.

3. The tax on sugary drinks might lower the sugar content which in turn might decrease demand which in turn might lower the direct sales of sugar causing the sugar industry to scream, along with the cane growers.

4. The government might have to introduce subsidies to the sugar industry.

5. The government might have to appease the powerful beverage industry and remove the new tax on sugar.

 

Whatever the outcome it will not be what the government predicts or hopes for.

Murphy's Law on Thai Government policy will see to that.

                          

 

Thais do not get it!

most Thais put huge amounts of sugar in everything they cook, SO EDUCATION WOULD-BE A GOOD IDEA!!

[emptypockets]

1 hour ago, Lacessit said:

Given the amount of sugar Thais ladle on to their food to soften the chili kick, I really don't think the sugar industry is going to be too worried.

I've had several Thais aghast at me using chili on my food without sugar.

It wasn't so long ago Mitrpol purchased a big chunk of the Australian sugar industry from CSR, so that is one measure of the addiction.

Wrong. CSR sold Sucrogen to a different company, not Mitrpol.

[Lacessit]

2 minutes ago, emptypockets said:

Wrong. CSR sold Sucrogen to a different company, not Mitrpol.

I had read somewhere it was a Thai company who bought CSR's sugar interests. It was Wilmar, based in Singapore.

[emptypockets]

2 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

I had read somewhere it was a Thai company who bought CSR's sugar interests. It was Wilmar, based in Singapore.

Correct it was Wilmar. You may have been thinking of Tully Sugar or Maryborough Sugar.  Chinese and Thai interests bought into them, I don't recall who bought what. Not much of an Aussie owned sugar industry left.  Mackay Sugar is still independent but who knows how long for. Probably go broke or shutdown in the not too distant future