There have been arguments waged for years over the battle against obesity and what needs to be done to combat it, but is a new suggestion that overweight passengers be charged a "fat tax" on airline flights taking things too far?

Passenger weight on flights is nothing new and has actually been an issue for years (see Kevin Smith's battle on a Southwest flight in 2010), but a new op-ed in The Daily Mail calls for a "fat tax" that would force those who weigh more to pay more on flights, with the total weight of both a passenger and their luggage taken into account at check-in.

"I was livid last year when I was made to pay excess baggage costs because my case was a fraction over the allowance," writer Julia Stephenson says. "How could this be fair when the woman behind me-at least 17 st [roughly 238 pounds]--paid nothing extra because she had a smaller suitcase? What good is travelling light if you're tipping the scales in the wrong direction?...Tall people already have to pay for extra legroom. Are they offended? Hardly. As far as I am concerned, we need to stop being PC and let people take responsibility for themselves."

Stephenson then quotes a friend who works for an airline who said she supports passengers being required to step on the scale along with their luggage at check-in, and if the total weight exceeds a certain limit, extra charges and fees should apply.

Stephenson also notes that obesity is treated often like an illness-which is why opposition to the movement appears to be strong.

Stephenson's article was then picked up by Right Wing News, where author Terresa Monroe-Hamilton said she supports the concept, but doesn't support calling it a "fat tax," saying the term opens up the possibility of more fees being opposed in other places because of weight.

"Many of the big airlines out there are now no longer exactly 'privately' owned. All are heavily regulated by the Feds and the industry almost looks nationalized these days. Careful where you go with a fat tax. The minute the Progressive bureaucrats succeed in getting it implemented, it will spread everywhere," she writes. "You could be taxed when you go out to eat, or when you take a train, cab or boat. You could be taxed at hotels and when you shop at retail outlets...all because you are deemed 'fat.' This has been the goal all along for Marxists. It's another way to control the masses and force them to lose weight one way or the other."

Monroe-Hamilton then appears to abandon the idea of the concept all together, saying it does go too far.

"If a passenger is so large that they take up two seats, they should have to pay for that. It's economics," she continues. "But can you imagine paying a fat tax when a love one dies and they are buried or cremated? That's coming. How about when you go to the doctor or the dentist? How about enforced diets? If the State gets its way, all of these things will become reality. "

:Yes there is an obesity problem, but taxation is not the answer," she adds. "People already don't want to fly because of security madness...do you really think this would help the airlines? Maybe people can walk. At least they'd lose weight that way."

Where do you stand on the idea of a "fat tax?" Vote in our poll below.


Should airlines impose a "fat tax" for overweight and obese passengers?