Cosmetic procedures tax (Botax)

A recent proposal for the health care reform was to introduce a 5% tax on elective cosmetic procedures. Lawmakers that proposed this tax believe that it will allow to generate 5.8 billion dollars over the next ten years. However, the plastic surgery societies oppose this tax as discriminatory, arbitrary and ineffective.

First, this tax is disciminatory against women as 86 percent of plastic surgery patients are female, of which 91 percent are between the working ages of 19-64 according to the current ASPS President. He further added that cosmetic surgery is no longer an exclusive luxury afforded by the very wealthy, but rather a mainstream and reasonable option most common amongst the working middle-class.

According to the plastic surgery societies, such a tax has been proven ineffective in the past. New Jersey is the only state that passed a similar 6% tax on elective medical procedures in 2004. However, the NJ Department of Taxation has experienced a 59% shortfall compared to the projected revenue estimates. Eight other states have considered similar tax legislation– and they all wisely rejected them.

Finally, though the bill claims that the only procedures that would be taxed are those that are “not necessary to ameliorate a deformity arising from, or directly related to, a congenital abnormality, a personal injury resulting from an accident or trauma, or a disfiguring disease,” The Plastic Surgery Societies contend that such distinctions aren’t always obvious. Because the line between ‘cosmetic’ and ‘reconstructive’ surgery is not always clear, such a tax would leave the determination of medical necessity up to state tax auditors – a completely inappropriate proposition.

Information source www.earthtimes.org

Key words: Plastic surgeon los angeles , rhinoplasty Los Angeles, breast augmentation Los Angeles, tummy tuck Los Angeles, liposuction Los Angeles.