Implementing a 'Fat Tax'

I entered this debate assuming it was to be a tax on fat people themselves, and so found it difficult developing any affirmative arguments.

While it turned out that most people argued for taxes on fatty foods, this is what I had prepared for the negative side on my original assessment:

• A fat tax would be food censorship

• Wouldn't fat people in general, even if they are close but do not reach the lower limit of the tax, going to suffer social persecution or ostracism? Won't this punish some people even if they legally can not be taxed by the system?
  • Reminiscent of the Nazi German-era stars worn on the lapels of Jewish non-citizens, but sadly more indiscriminate.
  • Could pregnant women become targets?

• At what age should you begin enforcing the tax? Should parents be charged for their children's weight, since the children can not pay? They can not always expect full control over their food intake, so why should they expect full responsibility?
• Recounts some of the problems with retributive justice systems in general, which can so easily ignore the luck involved in morality itself. Crime can be a result of bad parenting, bad genes... Which of these exactly are the accused responsible for? Surely obesity can also be fostered by bad parenting and bad genes, why should people be taxed for these things outside their control?
• Poorer families, comprising a large proportion of the obese population, would be unfairly hit, because such taxes would comprise a larger share of their total income.

• It would be attacking the symptoms, rather than the underlying issues, which are manifold and complex.
• How do you hope to enforce it? It would be a logistical nightmare.

• When does the tax kick in? When people fit the definition of “obese”? Would the taxation be progressive?