Cosmetic Surgery Vanity Tax Coming Soon?
Apparently State Rep. Phyllis Kahn is of the impression that those of us that are more fortunate than others should have to pay for it. According to Kare11.com:
“State Rep. Phyllis Kahn is pushing to extend Minnesota’s 6.5 percent sales tax to cosmetic surgery and appearance-enhancing procedures including chemical skin peels, laser hair removal, cosmetic injections and spider vein treatments.”
Okay, fine…But, why do you ask?
“‘Anybody who has the money for plastic surgery can afford to pay the tax, said Kahn, a Minneapolis Democrat.’ There aren’t a lot of homeless people and there aren’t a lot of people who don’t have enough money for food who are getting optional cosmetic surgery,” she said.”
Sorry, that argument is weak. I don’t feel a new tax should be added simply because the customers of the product/service simply are able to pay it.
Thankfully not all have the same mindset as Rep. Kahn. Dr. Richard D’Amico, president-elect of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons near Chicago, said “It hurts working women who save up their money and work hard and try to do something for themselves once in a while,” he said. He said 90 percent of plastic surgery patients are female, with annual incomes averaging about $60,000. Dr. D’Amico practices in Englewood, N.J., where his patients have had to pay the 6% state sales tax on their operations since 2004.
And Rep. Kahn’s bill of bull would not apply to laser eye surgery, which is also an elective procedure.
