I don't know if it is allowed but my last few employers already charge extra for health insurance for tobacco users. Well I'm pretty sure it's allowed since my current one is a state government.

Nanny state or not I have always been comfortable with putting taxes as close to the usage, or cause as possible. As long as we ensure that by and large it is used to correct a problem or alleviate an exteranalized cost. It's only fair I'd say. If you're making or selling something that pushes costs out to society at large we should figure out what that cost is and put a tax on it to reimburse society. The gasoline tax is a good example. I have zero problem with putting a special tax on gas in order to upkeep roads and whatnot. You just have to keep the politicians on a short leash to keep it from becoming a cash cow.

As far as our current weight problem? I don't think humans were designed by evolution to sit at a computer screen and watch digital screens all day. Nor were we made to sit around watching TV for days on end. I think there is a psychological factor at work here. We have taken people who had only a couple generations ago had to adjust to moving from farm life to assembly line life and we have intentionally put a lot of them out to pasture by moving their means of livelihood overseas. I'm not sure we can do anything more important to correct some of these problems than making it a point to bring jobs back home and put a lot of these people back to work. I think it is going to be impossible to get people to live healthy productive lives if they are out of work and out of hope.

Will