In France, obesity affects 15% of the population, whether moderate, severe or morbid. A worrying figure when we know that overweight or obese people "contribute to a high share [...] of health expenditure (56% for city care and probably more in hospital)", according to the Public Treasury. Excess weight increases the risk of contracting a chronic disease, but also mortality (in 2002, obesity was responsible for 13% of deaths in Europe). Thus, in a report published on September 1, 2016, the Public Treasury recommended taxing food products that promote overweight. A proposal rejected by the Minister of Economy and Finance, Michel Sapin.
Thus, the idea of the Public Treasury was to set up a tax only on products exceeding a certain calorie threshold or according to their nutritional quality, rather than targeting a specific category of products (such as sodas). Moreover, this tax has already existed in Mexico since 2014. But for the minister, there is no question of creating a tax while the government "is trying to lower taxes, remove taxes". He also added:“The management of the Treasury is there to make proposals, to feed the reflection and it turns out that the politicians are there to decide. " That has the merit of being clear ! It remains to be hoped that these same policies will find another solution to combat the scourge of obesity, the social cost of which was estimated at 20 billion euros in 2012 (an amount equivalent to tobacco or alcohol).
