Tax refunds on way for pay-as-you-eat splurge on treats

Image courtesy of fellow blogger Life, Musings and Jill, where you'll read a fantastic ode to the cream bun. Long live the CB!

THE often-quoted adage that death and taxes are the only certainties in life dates from a seemingly simple age without the multitude of influences that crisscross the communities of interest in our modern era.
The words of Benjamin Franklin have echoed through the centuries and seem to have an eternal following through the expanse of cyberspace that is the internet.
We need a smile at this time of year as those inevitable envelopes flop on to our desks and into our letterboxes with the certificates giving good or bad news of our pay-as-you-earn tax credits and income.

A SHARP mind in the tax-talk archives offered the consoling thought that you must earn money to pay tax, so in reality the bigger the tax bill the better off you should be.
Franklin didn't bank on some other certainties. In the spending spree that comes with the influx of tax refunds each year, many of those lovely sweet dollars will buy cream buns for overweight people.
The financial and economic analysts always neglect this thread of social commentary. While most of the retail economy waits beside the counters for cashed up consumers to splurge, courtesy of Glenn Stevens and his gang at the Tax Office, the registers are ringing up sales of cream buns.

THE thronging crowds at the retail centres become a mass of swollen cheeks, white smears and bouncing jaws.
The shopping centre landscape is littered with finger-licking and hand-wiping cream bun addicts, ceremoniously dumping wrappers in the bins as their gaze turns to the next fix in their sticky habit.
But it's not funny. We are told those buns and other sweet treats are making some people sick.

HERE's another certainty Franklin didn't bank on: a fat belly bouncing around every time you turn on the telly.
At least we can be sure that big efforts are under way to trim the blubber and get our society healthier and supposedly happier.
Weight control makes a market for a lot of enterprises in Australia in 2012, with big and small players hoping to divert some of the 'tax dollars' away from the bakery.

CAPALABA couple Kim Phillips and Gordon Mills chose our Classifieds to launch their contribution toward a slimmer Australian population.
Kim, a registered nurse, and Gordon, an aircraft engineer, advertised their Community Weight Loss Challenge, saying, "The idea is to get healthier and lose weight together over a 10 week period, along with group support, information over a range of topics and also cash prizes."
Just before that pivotal date, July 1, 13 people had taken up the offer. Kim, originally from country NSW and a Redlander for the past decade, says she recently lost 19kg and feels fantastic.

KIM and Gordon have much research backing up their weight loss program. We'll count the kilos after the first 10-week program and report the results.
Thanks for joining me in the marvellous community of classified advertising. This column has appeared in The Redland Times.