Paying
compulsory taxes on the income you earned and for other services to contribute
to the revenue of the Government has become a general practice, at the same
time adding taxes and duties on certain products like cigarettes, alcohol and
other products which are harmful for human consumption and which the Government
doesn’t want people to use has been a great tactic. But the recent proposal to introduce tax on
meat to the above list with the intention of reducing the consumption of meat
by the common man and to reduce the high costs associated with the consumption
of meat will definitely be hard on the Americans, as they are the highest
consumers of meat.
As
per statistics every American on an average consumes 44kg of meat per year
compared to Indians who consume 5kg of meat per person. The number of pigs, cows and lambs has grown
10 folds; farming for livestock covers 1/3rd of the land in the
world, which could have been used to grow crops to feed the malnourished
people. With the growing consumption of
meat, the prices of staple food also have seen a steep rise, and this is also
the main reason for obesity among Americans.
Results also show that compared to vegetarians, non vegetarians showed a
greater tendency in facing the risk of obesity, which clearly shows that meat
consumption is directly linked to obesity.
Studies have also revealed that due to the high amount of antibiotics
used on animals there is a danger of widespread infectious diseases like
Tuberculosis, smallpox, measles and even the recent highly prevailing Swine flu
which killed so many people.
The
increase in production of meat also has a negative impact on the environment in
the form of effluents released by the livestock and also as a major part of the
green house gases emitted is by the livestock as a result of which we face a
high risk of global warming. Also when
compared to consumption of water, the water required for growing crops such as
wheat and rice is very less when compared to water consumption by livestock,
due to which we may face a severe scarcity of water. The increase in meat
production is also the reason for the gradual declination in the number of
fishes being killed to produce fish oil and dry feed every year so that they
can be fed to chicken and pigs.
With
America being the highest consumer of meat, the proposal to introduce tax on
meat maybe seen as a move to discourage the usage of meat by the Government, and
might deter people from the lower income groups in buying meat, but it
certainly will be not be a restriction for meat lovers, who are bound to
consume meat despite the taxation on meat.
But taking into consideration all the benefits of abstaining from meat
consumption, like good health, decreased risk to diseases, better environment,
decrease in obesity and many more, this proposal should be definitely finalized
as introducing taxes on meat would at least temporarily reduce the consumption
of meat, and people would think twice while purchasing meat. Studies also reveal that by taxing meat, the
average consumption per person in a year would definitely fall even though we
cannot expect a total fall in meat consumption, which would help in curtailing
the rising prices of staple food and encourage the cultivation of crops. We will definitely help in having a better
environment which will have a positive impact on the planet by reducing the
consumption of meat.
