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  3. Enviably healthy Denmark is leading the way in taxing unhealthy food. Why are

Enviably healthy Denmark is leading the way in taxing unhealthy food. Why are

游客2024-08-01  53
问题    Enviably healthy Denmark is leading the way in taxing unhealthy food. Why are they doing it, and will it work? The Danish government’s now infamous, since "fat tax" has caused an international uproar. It’s praised by public health advocates on the one hand and dismissed on the other as a nanny state whose social engineering has gone violent.
   I see it as one country’s attempt to stave off rising obesity (肥胖症) rates, when other options seem less feasible. But the policies appear confusing. Why Denmark of all places? Why particular foods? Will such taxes really change eating behaviour? And aren’t there better ways to halt or reverse rising rates of diet-related chronic (慢性的) diseases?
   Before getting to these questions, let’s look at what Denmark has done. In 2009, its government announced a major tax overhaul aimed at softening the shock of the global economic crisis, promoting renewable energy, protecting the environment, discouraging climate change, and improving health—all while maintaining revenues, of course. The tax reforms make it more expensive to produce products likely to harm the environment and to consume products potentially harmful to health, specifically tobacco, ice cream, chocolate, candy, sugar-sweetened soft drinks, and foods containing lots of fats.
   Taxes pay for this through policies that maintain a relatively narrow gap between the incomes of the rich and the poor. Because its level of income disparity (差异) is relatively low, the effects of health taxes are less hard on the poor than in many other countries. But the Danes want their health to be better. Life expectancy in Denmark is 79 years, at least two years below that in Japan or Iceland. The stated goal of the tax policies is to increase life expectancy as well as to reduce the burden and cost of illness from diet-related diseases. [br] In Denmark, the effects of health taxes are less hard on the poor because______.
选项 A、the level of income disparity is relatively low
B、the purpose of taxing is to improve economy
C、the taxes aim at softening the shock of climate change
D、the taxes make products more expensive
答案 A
解析 由题干中的effects of health taxes和less hard on the poor定位到第四段第二句。该句指出因为丹麦的收入差异相对较低，因此健康税对穷人的影响比其他国家小，由此可见A)最恰当。
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