PrintBy Shawn McKee
Staff Writer
Today, the senate and house will vote on a bill insiders have dubbed “The Fat Tax.” It’s a revision on a healthcare bill that would make being obese a punishable offense.
Obesity is defined in the bill as “more than 20 percent over one’s ideal weight based on age, height, sex and build.”
Most “initial contacts” would result in nothing more than a verbal or written warning, according to government insiders. However, it is up to the officer’s discretion as what to do next.
In certain situations — in the presence of children or someone morbidly obese — the officer would have the jurisdiction to issue a citation or even order the offender to join a weight education and management class.
Someone who refuses rehabilitation, or is repeatedly ticketed, could lose certain rights and privileges — like their driver’s license — and even spend time in jail.
“We’re paying more than $78 billion per year on healthcare for the overweight and obese,” explains Debra Brumback, who was one of the sponsors of the amendment. “I think people need to be held accountable for their actions. This bill will do that.”
The amendment was attached to the “Founding Ordinance on Obesity Legislation,” that has been nearly a decade in the making. The bill itself is highly controversial and has found ardent opposition from groups like ELMO, Equal Law Mandates for the Overweight.
“This is ridiculous! It’s just another example of the government infringing on people’s rights and putting their fingers in everyone’s pies — literally,” exclaims ELMO spokesman Walter “Bag of Doughnuts” Sobchak. “I eat a half-dozen doughnuts every morning for breakfast. I’d like to see the government try to stop that.”
Most agree that education is the key to keeping Americans healthy, so much of the money saved on healthcare and made from fines paid would go to bringing back physical education in schools, teaching nutrition and making healthier snacks available in school vending machines.
“We have a growing epidemic in this country. Most people do struggle with their weight and, I think, will welcome this government assistance and intervention,” according to Brumback, who weighs in at a svelte 125-pounds. “I mean, when I put on my freshman 15, I would have never lost that weight if I hadn’t had to get three physical education credits and lost that weight in Racquetball 1113.”
This all leads to myriad ethical questions about where the government’s jurisdiction ends when it comes to the individual. If the bill passes, there is also a concern about certain “unhealthy foods” being considered contraband and a black market for certain goods developing much like prohibition did in the early part of 20th century and creating another niche for organized crime.
Shawn McKee graduated from the
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