The Navajo Indians in the US have introduced the country’s first tax on junk food.
The tax is an attempt to beat the increasing health problems many in the tribe face. Out of a population of 300,000, some 25,000 have type2 diabetes and a further 75,000 are pre-diabetic.
The obesity rate in some age groups is up to 60%, and high blood pressure and heart disease are proliferating, according to the Navajo Area Indian Health Service.
While the traditional diet would have included pine nuts, wild potato, berries and wild fruit, today many rely on fried potatoes, tortillas, crisps, biscuits, sugary drinks and Spam.
The new health act covers food and drink with “minimal-to-no nutritional value” and subjects them to a 2% tax. A survey revealed up to 90% of the food sold in Navajo grocery shops qualified for the new tax. At the same time, an existing tax of 5% on fruit and vegetables was dropped.
The Navajo, who prefer the name Diné, form the largest Indian reservation in the US covering 27,000 square miles in parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.
The drinks industry rushed to send in lobbyists to the reservation in an effort to halt the tax which was nevertheless passed.
The Navajo have held the right to make and enforce laws and raise taxes since the 1830s when the US Supreme Court ruled the tribes were semi-autonomous “domestic dependent nations” within the United States.
The tax could raise an estimated $1 million (£670,000) a year which will pay for projects including farmers’ markets, community vegetable gardens, greenhouses, and exercise equipment.
One reason for the poor diet is that both shops and people are too poor to afford electricity or refrigeration for fresh goods as 42% live below the poverty line.
In areas unemployment ranges from 50% to 90%, rendering many of the Navajo nervous about the cost of eating more healthily.
The vast majority of the reservation has been officially declared a “food desert” by the US department of agriculture, meaning residents live more than 10 miles from the nearest supermarket.
