Taxes and Subsidies

Mark Bittman makes some good points about getting people to stop eating "bad food" and start eating more "good food". Using the public health model for tobacco might work but everyone agrees that food is much more complex. Tax policy and subsidies have created plenty of problems for the U.S. and maybe they could get us out of some trouble. However, the trend for the future appears to be a more simple tax code and fewer subsidies. Reducing or eliminating subsidies for the agricultural commodities would help even if no subsidies were forthcoming for vegetables. Most of the taxing on unhealthy food and drinks is coming at the local and state level. Furthermore, the local (city) projects for health promotion mobilizes the powerful force of community support and peer pressure.