In a more civilized age — that is, during the 1840s — reducing the price of food for ordinary people was seen as a good thing. Nowadays, though, increasing the price of food in the name of "climate sustainability" is de rigueur. The UK Independent reports:
Denmark is considering proposals to introduce a tax on red meat, after a government think tank came to the conclusion that “climate change is an ethical problem”.
The Danish Council of Ethics recommended an initial tax on beef, with a view to extending the regulation to all red meats in [the] future. It said that in the long term, the tax should apply to all foods at varying levels depending on climate impact. [Emphasis added.]
The council voted in favour of the measures by an overwhelming majority, and the proposal will now be put forward for consideration by the government.
One wonders exactly what they mean by "an ethical problem," but it's fairly clear from the context that the phrase is merely code for "problem we elites have decided takes precedence over all other problems."
Moreover, if such regulations really are adopted, it will necessitate the creation of an entire government bureaucracy to decide what foods have an acceptable level of "climate impact" and which do not. Government agents will no doubt be well paid to write reports as to just how much the price of food X shall be taxed to reflect its climate sustainability or lack thereof. There will be rankings, white papers, commissions, and propaganda campaigns all in the name of dictating an "ethical diet."
In a more sane time or place, such micro-management of the diets of of human beings would be seen as absurd, but not in the age of endlessly expanding government power in the name of protecting the climatic status quo.
Advocates of New Taxes Wil Pretend the Costs Don't Matter
And what will the cost be to ordinary people? Given the communal and ritual importance of food in human culture, it's certainly not zero. Nor can the subjective valuations of billions of human beings simply be disregarded. Some people prefer to obtain their nutrition from meat. Others prefer to obtain nutrition from other sources. Some people build religious and cultural celebrations around certain types of foods.
If the new food taxes are implemented, these everyday aspects of life — activities that are at the very center of human culture and life — will be further limited, with the most impoverished members of society suffering most of all.
"Well, it's just red meat," some might say. But, the food tax is merely a small part of a global effort by political elites to tighten the noose around ordinary people who are being told that all the most basic luxuries in life are now eco-terrorism. "It's just red meat" sounds an awful lot like "it's just an small tax hike" as if there were no existing tax burden onto which the most recent proposal is to be heaped. Moreover, the planners of the food tax have already made it clear that nothing is safe. All foods are to ranked, they openly acknowledge, as will all aspects of human life such as travel, recreation, an living conditions.
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