Diary of a Plus Size Blogger - The Fat Tax

Fat tax, also known as “Twinkie tax”, “junk food tax,” and “snack tax,” is a tax on calorie-dense, nutrient-poor foods. The tax has been proposed as one means to address the obesity problem. The consumption of junk food is supposed to decline if it becomes more expensive. The revenue from the tax would be used to promote healthy nutrition and anti-obesity programs.

I have never liked the title nor the definition of this particular bill that was proposed in Congress in the 1980’s to address obesity concerns in America, and to supposedly get American’s to eat more healthy and exercise. One of the things that is most disturbing about this tax is the fact that the government is looking to do things to directly affect the choice that a person makes about how and what they eat.

“The people shouldn’t be afraid of there government, the government should be afraid of its people” from the movie V for Vendetta

The government has no right to put a tax on food items and try to make people believe that the money is going to be used in health and nutrition. Why can’t some of the billions that are spent each year on frivolous items go towards funding programs that will help all American’s regardless of size? I guess that makes too much sense.

I know those of you that are regular readers of Full Figure Plus are wondering what does this have to do with clothing and accessories. It’s a well established fact that buying plus size clothing in any store in this country that there is a mark up on larger sizes. Why is this? The clothing industry has held on to the notion for years that they use more fabric for plus sizes, and they are not in that much of a demand so they have to charge more to make the same profit they would on smaller sizes. Thus the birth of the “fat tax” in the world of fashion.

Specialty merchants such as IGIGI or Monif C. Plus Sizes in there own way fight back against this tax by carrying clothes for larger sizes period. When you get to merchants such as LL Bean then you will encounter the fat tax in a big way because some merchants are still slow to carry plus sizes at an affordable price.

I have always wondered why larger sizes where more expensive, but at the same time until I started blogging about size discrimination I didn’t think of it the way that I do now. As a man I don’t encounter it that much but it still happens. I can certainly empathize with the plight of ladies having to pay more for an item than smaller ladies; becasue manufacturers still don’t fully understand the plus size shape. Instead of taking a pattern that is made for a size 12 and making it into a size 20 there should be patterns made for a size 20.  If patterns are made in this way from the beginning then there will be no need to charge more becasue the clothing will be made and no guess work involved.
Plus size men and women should have to pay more becasue of there size when it comes to clothing, airline seats, health care or any other thing that is out there and available to the public. The fat tax be it in the clothing industry or in the government arena is a very flawed system that is in serious need of a makeover.

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