People hate being taxed for doing things they like
It’s much worse than that; in hotter climates, salt isn’t a luxury, it’s basic sustenance. Gandhi wasn’t being figurative when he said “Next to air and water, salt is perhaps the greatest necessity of life.”
I think Ghandi’s point nods to the British Empire’s policy of heavily taxing salt as a way of extracting wealth from the Indian population. For a time this meant that salt became very expensive for poor people and many probably died early deaths linked to lack of salt.
However, I don’t think anyone would suggest taxing salt at that level again! Like any food tax, the health benefits of a salt tax would have to be weighed against the costs of making food more expensive. You certainly wouldn’t want it so high that poor people don’t get enough of it.
It’s much worse than that; in hotter climates, salt isn’t a luxury, it’s basic sustenance. Gandhi wasn’t being figurative when he said “Next to air and water, salt is perhaps the greatest necessity of life.”
I think Ghandi’s point nods to the British Empire’s policy of heavily taxing salt as a way of extracting wealth from the Indian population. For a time this meant that salt became very expensive for poor people and many probably died early deaths linked to lack of salt.
However, I don’t think anyone would suggest taxing salt at that level again! Like any food tax, the health benefits of a salt tax would have to be weighed against the costs of making food more expensive. You certainly wouldn’t want it so high that poor people don’t get enough of it.