I think taxes like this are regressive as they target the individuals buying them, who usually have less money, than the companies manufacturing them who have much much more wealth.

In the US, there are some areas where it is flat out difficult to purchase produce that isn’t somewhat rotting at an affordable price. This is a far greater drive to bring people to buy processed and unhealthy foods than the temptation of a sweet or fatty treat.

Taxing the “bad thing” is a myopic solution. Improving access to and lowering the cost of the “good thing” is a far more progressive solution.

Also, this isn’t an unpopular opinion post, this is more of a question asking for potentially unpopular opinions, probably not right for this community.