A Swedish councillor is calling for a fat tax for the nation’s overweight citizens. Stefan Hanna, Centre Party councillor in Uppsala, eastern Sweden, argued in a blog post that those who let their weight spiral out of control should pay higher taxes than those who stay trim as they place more demands on public services.
“If it costs more to live unhealthily the collective society doesn’t say NO! The society says do as you want, but if you elect to live unwisely then you have to pay extra so that we can fund any additional costs that you will cost society, if you get older,” Hanna wrote online.
He went on to argue that obesity “in combination with an ageing population, can’t be financed if Swedes in the future want to enjoy the current standard of [public] services.”
Hanna, however, failed to specify in his blog the details of his proposed tax, such as the level of the increase and how it should be levied. According to the local daily newspaper Uppsala Nya Tidning, Hanna’s views are not echoed throughout the majority of the Centre Party.