The Ontario Medical Association (OMA) renewed their call recently for extreme measures to battle obesity. If the OMA had it their way, Ontarians would be paying a fat and sugar tax on all foods they deem ‘unhealthy.’ We fortunately know from the experience in Denmark what would happen if fat taxes were implemented in Ontario. In 2011, Denmark introduced a fat tax aimed to reduce the consumption of ‘unhealthy’ foods, improve general health, and to be used as a revenue tool to fund a financially strapped government. The tax did accomplish its goal of raising revenue, but the unintended consequences led to its near unanimous abolishment by the Danish Parliament.
