Former Treasury Sec.: Get Ready for Taxes & Regulations on Junk Food

Larry Summers, former United States Secretary of the Treasury and Director of the White House United States National Economic Council, on Friday had some bad news for Big Gulp and Twinkie enthusiasts everywhere: Nationwide regulations and taxes on junk food are probably on their way.

“I think there is no question that the way Americans eat and what Americans weigh is a big contributor to health problems and it’s a big contributor to health costs,” said Summers, who (apparently) has become something of a “fitness freak.”

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“It’s not the agenda now, but I think at some point you’re going to see tax measures and regulatory measures that are going to be directed at helping people be healthier," he said during an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

"That’s just going to happen and I think it’s probably a good thing when it does,” he added.

The former Secretary of the Treasury continued, comparing junk food regulations to Washington’s anti-cigarette policies:

[J]ust as we have over time done things with respect to tobacco that are very constructive and that are saving hundreds of thousands of people’s lives, that kind of agenda is going to come to other aspects of public health, including the way people eat.

However, Summers also noted that programs designed to “help” people to eat better need to be formed in such as way that people don’t go hungry (like some have under the First Lady’s healthy-eating initiatives).

“Should kids be going hungry at lunch because they can’t have any good food — any food they like in the schools?” he asked rhetorically. “You can obviously take it too far and you have to be careful.”

(H/T: Washington Examiner)

Featured image courtesy Getty Images.

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