Summarising the debate

I am writing my position paper on the topic: “Fruit and vegetables should be government subsidized”. One piece of information that I am using a lot to back up my arguments is the “Food Prices Strategies” paper that was published in 2012. The authors in this paper studied how food pricing strategies can encourage healthy eating habits. They have statistical data that clearly shows how food prices impact on consumption and therefore they recommended that a mix of taxes and subsidies should be used to help lower the cost of healthy food items. I believe that the authors have taken this position because they are experienced professionals in the Health Sector looking to improve the general health of the New Zealand population. Also, the findings of their research show how important it is to make healthy food more affordable in New Zealand. They understand that this can not only help to improve the health of the population, but also to alleviate the costs with obesity related diseases.

The opposing argument is, of course, from the government. I have not found any published research paper stating their opinions and the reasons why they have not created a fruit and vegetable subsidy to this date, or any food pricing strategies that could reduce the cost of healthy foodstuff for that matter. However, I am using the debates section from the New Zealand Parliament website, with a debate from 2010 between parliament members on a proposition for the removal of GST on healthy foods, such as fruit and vegetables. The idea was rejected in the basis that New Zealand GST system has been relatively unchanged since it was created. Therefore, no exemptions should be made and such exemptions would just increase costs to the government. In my opinion, I think they have taken this approach because they haven’t fully analyzed costs of new policies against current costs of obesity in New Zealand.

 

 

Eyles, Helen; Ni Mhurchu, Cliona; Nghiem, Nhung; Blakely, Tony (2012). Food Pricing Strategies, Population Diets, and Non-Communicable Disease: A Systematic Review of Simulation Studies. PLoS Medicine. Dec2012, Vol. 9 Issue 12. Retrieved from PLOS Medicine: http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1001353

 

 

Goods and Services Tax (Exemption of Healthy Food) Amendment Bill - First Reading [Volume:666;Page:13803] (2010, September 8)

Retrieved from Hansard (debates): http://www.parliament.nz/en-nz/pb/debates/debates/49HansD_20100908_00001000/goods-and-services-tax-exemption-of-healthy-food-amendment