How far should governments go to promote physical fitness? A former cabinet minister in B.C. has proposed tax credits for parents who spend money on their children's fitness. Here in Alberta, our health minister recently talked about creating a special tax credit for gym memberships. Although stemming from noble motives, these polices would make our tax system even more complicated, create unfairness, and threaten our personal freedoms as citizens.

Tax fairness requires that taxes be simple, visible and low. Our income tax laws already comprise far too many pages, creating unnecessary work for accountants, lawyers and tax collectors - not to mention taxpayers themselves. Aside from a generous personal income tax exemption to enable people to provide a basic standard of living for themselves and their families, our myriad of other exemptions and credits should be abolished, with one low rate applying to all earned income.

If governments focused on their essential tasks, doing only what cannot be accomplished by individuals and voluntary associations, our tax burden would be much lower. Lower taxes would obviate the need to create a complex and costly system of credits and exemptions. This would be tragic for CRA bureaucrats who lose their jobs, but Canadian families would enjoy a higher standard of living, thanks to being able to keep more of their own earnings.

If creating special tax credits for adult gyms and children's sports is a good idea, then why not tax credits for running shoes, or a good pair of walking shoes? And why not include skis, bathing suits, bicycles, and all kinds of sports equipment? If good physical health is the goal, should stores which sell fresh vegetables be exempt from property tax and corporate income tax? Should people be able to save up their receipts from what they spend on healthy foods, and deduct the total amount from taxable income? Should extra taxes be imposed on ice cream and chips, or on deep-fried foods sold in restaurants? Once government gets into the business of micro-managing our health, these are questions which must be answered. Once governments start using taxation to promote fitness, a never-ending chorus of "me too" will arise from hundreds - if not thousands - of different businesses selling "healthy" products and services that were excluded from the tax exemption gravy train. And an equally loud chorus of "why not them too?" will emerge from the sellers and producers of tax-penalized junk food, demanding to know why other "bad" foods are not being taxed as well. If a government takes even one step down this road of managing our health through taxation, it will open a Pandora's box of complaints about unfairness.

Aside from the unfairness and impracticality of adding hundreds of pages to our already large tax codes, micro-managing citizens' personal choices is demeaning and degrading. Personal freedom has always entailed the right to make bad choices as well as good ones, as long as people accept the consequences of their chosen behaviours. Our ability to think, plan, reason and make meaningful choices about our lives is what distinguishes us from animals who merely follow their instincts. When governments micro-manage our physical health, we become like cattle, managed by a powerful rancher who furthers our physical well-being while denying our freedom. Currently, the government's health care monopoly is structured to provide a never-ending justification for dictating how people must live their lives.

But what about the higher, unnecessary or premature health care costs caused by smoking, excessive drinking, sexual promiscuity, poor diet, and lack of exercise? Is it fair to force taxpayers to shoulder the costs of largely preventable diseases like lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, and syphilis? No, it's not fair. That is one of the reasons why the government's health care monopoly should be reformed, so that obese smokers would pay higher insurance premiums than would non-smoking marathon runners.

People should be free to make their own lifestyle choices, and to accept responsibility for those choices, without imposing consequences on their fellow citizens. Unfortunately, the government's health care monopoly doesn't allow us any kind of freedom of choice. Our health care system should be reformed to enable citizens to assume more responsibility for their own care, rather than having government extend its reach ever further and deeper into our lives.

Special taxes, exemptions and credits for promoting fitness should be rejected because they would further complicate our tax system, making it more unfair. But ultimately, our freedom is more valuable than dollars and cents. Health care shouldn't become an excuse to violate our freedoms even further.