The Ontario Liberal government has backed down from a proposed fat tax for meals under $4 after a public outcry that was orchestrated partly by the fast food industry.

The government had planned to remove the exemption on the provincial sales tax in next month's budget, a step that would have added, for example, 13 cents to the price of a large cup of coffee.

The Health Ministry hatched the concept after a series of pre-budget town hall meetings with the belief it would help people make smarter choices when it came to buying snacks.

Dalton McGuinty (file photo)

But on Tuesday, Premier Dalton McGuinty called the tax a blunt tool that would not have delivered the desired impact.

Restaurants like Tim Hortons and McDonalds revved up an anti-tax campaign last week, gathering petitions with tens of thousands of signatures, and putting up posters that warned the tax would hit products like milk and soups.

Patrons already pay federal taxes on all restaurant meals, regardless of how much they cost.

Ontario isn't the first government to float the idea of a fat tax and it isn't the first to retreat.

Numerous American states, the U.K., and even the World Health Organization have raised the concept as a way to battle the growing obesity epidemic. But almost every time, it's been defeated.

Poverty groups say it hurts the poor who, for better or worse, rely on fast food for cheap meals.

Anti-tax groups call it a tax grab.

Even health groups say a fat tax doesn't address the multiplicity of problems that contribute to obesity, including sedentary lifestyles.

But governments persevere.

New York state plans a quarter-per cent tax on sweets and snacks and plans to spend the $50 million US it will raise on fighting childhood obesity.

Washington state expects to raise $40 million US annually by lifting a sales-tax exemption for candy.

States like Vermont and Nebraska, which have seen their fat tax bills defeated, will reintroduce them in another form.

For his part, Premier McGuinty said the government will look for other ways to battle the bulge, and suggested fast food outlets might mobilize their energies on that front.