From MSN Now: "A neighborhood city council in Melbourne, Australia is thinking about slugging fast-food outlets like McDonald's and KFC with a 400 percent increase in the rates they pay to operate in the area. The hope is that the so-called 'fat tax' will discourage consumers from eating junk food, and decrease ever-soaring obesity statistics and related maladies like diabetes and heart disease. Because, you know, increasing the price of things like alcohol and cigarettes has definitely solved problems like binge-drinking and smoking."
I hope no one tells the Melbourne city council about Epic Meal Time's latest creation: a 109,000-calorie bacon burger. They might try to tax the Internet itself.
The first story shows the state trying to punish perceived indulgence and exert control over behavior. The second story shows citizens who dare to cook and eat whatever they want in the face of the food police, health, and maybe even sanity. The Epic Meal Time guys made their burger-of-doom on their own; they didn't get it from a drive-thru. So should grocery stores be taxed, too?
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