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Elaine Yu Yee-nee, 15,  Creative Secondary School
Fat is essential for human growth. It helps moderate body temperature and store energy. We can divide fats into two types: 'good' and 'bad' fats. 
Good fats include polyunsaturated fats and monounsaturated fats, which can lower our cholesterol levels. Bad fats include saturated fats and trans fats, which increase the risk of heart disease and obesity. 
A health tax should be imposed on foods  that contain bad fats.  
People who consume too much fat are at  risk of becoming obese. Obesity causes other diseases, such as high blood pressure and  heart problems. 
A tax on fatty foods would help reduce  obesity in Hong  Kong. 
Most people  would think twice before buying unhealthy foods if they were more expensive.     The  tax on tobacco  makes people smoke less. Many of them have even quit. The same idea would work with fatty foods.
A  tax on unhealthy foods would make shop owners  stock up on  healthier products in order to make a profit. Food makers would come up with healthier  products.  
Everyone would benefit. People could  enjoy low-fat products, and makers  and shops would still make profits. 
All in all, imposing a tax on fatty foods would help people eat more healthily.
Ronald Ling Pak-ki, 20, University of Hong Kong
Obesity is becoming a more serious problem in Hong Kong, especially among young children and teens. Fatty foods  are the major cause of this problem. 
Some people  have suggested a tax on fatty foods  to  lower consumption and improve the public's health.  
I don't think that is the best option to tackle the problem.
A new tax on fatty foods would  not solve the obesity epidemic. The main reason for obesity is the lack of exercise.  Lowering consumption of fatty foods  would not make much of a difference. 
Take the heavy tax on cigarettes and alcohol as an example. Those  schemes have failed to  reduce consumption. 
The best method for tackling widespread obesity would be to encourage people to develop the habit of exercising regularly.  
 What's more, the tax would violate our freedom to choose our  food. People do not expect the government to force them to decide what to eat and what not to eat with a tax system. 
It is unfair to  prevent people from  eating what they like. People should have the right to choose what they eat.  The government  should not try to influence people's diets  by  imposing a tax on fatty foods.
The money and resources that would go into setting up a new tax would be much better spent on promoting the benefits of regular exercise. We should tackle the problem of widespread obesity by getting people to exercise more.




Should there be a tax on fatty foods?