Ontario’s finance minister is expected to announce that fast food and beverages cheaper than $4 will be exempt from the new HST. BC, as far as I can see, has not yet made this exemption, but I wonder if they’ll follow suit. (http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/harmonizedsalestax/article/724751–fast-food-coffee-to-escape-new-blended-tax)

Please tell me…why does the government think that we should be more heavily taxing, through the HST, healthy (or at least healthier) food bought at a restaurant, but make junk food less than $4 exempt?

I think it’s crazy that unprocessed food is generally more expensive than processed junk food. Why are we encouraging people, particularly low income, to make poor food choices? Why are we encouraging people to increase their risk for diabetes and other chronic illnesses?

My idea would be to more heavily tax junk food and apply that directly to subsidize healthy, whole food to make it more affordable and attractive to all consumers. I recognize that that is unlikely to happen, but this move is the exact opposite of that and a big step in the wrong direction.

We’re more heavily taxing people wanting to take care of their health using registered massage therapists and registered acupuncturists/Dr.TCM, but we’re making it easier for people to slowly poison themselves with trans fats, too much sugar, and too little nutrition. Hmmm…what?!

What do you think?