02.02.11
‘Fat tax’ plans for fast food businesses
Public health campaigners have welcomed pioneering plans for local ‘fat taxes’ on fast food.
Takeaways wanting a licence will have to pay a £1,000 levy to fund healthy eating and anti-litter campaigns in the town pioneering the idea, Oldham.
The Manchester Evening News reported that the council’s lawyers are investigating whether the authority needs government permission before going ahead with the tax, but said they were confident the plan, which has cross-party support, would go through.
The Federation of Small Businesses called the idea “regrettable” and said money raised should be channelled instead into economic development, because councils should be paying for such public health schemes themselves.
David Herne, of the Greater Manchester Directors of Public Health Group, said: “We would certainly support action that seeks to address the continuing challenge of childhood obesity.”
The plans would also seek to stop so many takeaways opening next to each other. Bigger restaurants, however, would escape the new fat tax, based on the level of seating they provide. This suggests some branches of major fast food businesses such as McDonald’s and KFC will be affected and some will not be.
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