Calls to introduce a tax on chocolate to tackle growing obesity levels were met with a bitter response from sweet-toothed folk. Dr David Walker sparked the debate by calling for chocolate to be taxed, in the same way as alcohol and cigarettes, to tackle increasing levels of obesity and diabetes. But his plans were met with incredulity when we asked city centre shoppers and workers for their views. Margaret Beard, an 82-year-old retired office worker, said: "Why a tax? "It's obviously a way of getting more money from the Government because I don't think people would stop eating chocolate even if there was a tax. Some members of my family have given it up for Lent. I love chocolate." Michael Perry, a 58-year-old painter and decorator, said: "It wouldn't work. People wouldn't stop eating chocolate. My doctor told me to stop eating it because of high cholesterol, but I didn't. This would be just another money making scheme." Karl Simpson, aged 41, also a painter and decorator, said: "It's a ridiculous idea. It's penalising people who eat chocolate in moderation. They would just find cheaper, foreign chocolate to eat, and it wouldn't work." Mother-of-four Susan Elliker, aged 35, said: "It wouldn't work because if people want chocolate they will eat it. It's probably another money-making scheme because they tax anything. "People know how to eat, and it's up to the individual. If it's not chocolate, they will find something else to eat." Kate Kelly, a 28-year-old recruitment consultant, from Reading, working in the city centre, said: "It'snot agood idea. We pay too much tax as it is and if we pay tax for chocolate it would be ridiculous. It wouldn't stop people from eating it." Planning consultant and father-of-two Rob Peters, aged 44 and from Bristol, was also working in the city centre. He said: "It's ridiculous. Everybody needs a bit of luxury and chocolate give us a positive lift. It's not on the same level as alcohol or cigarettes, and obesity goes beyond eating chocolate. Atax wouldn't solve anything." | 
