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PLASTIC SURGERY NEWS, SURGERY NEWS, COSMETIC SURGERY NEWS Current NEWS  |
States seek cut of surgery fees
Associated Press
OLYMPIA, Wash. - Nip, tuck and tax?
Lawmakers trying to plump up the bottom line are considering a ``vanity tax'' on cosmetic surgery and Botox injections in Washington, Illinois and other states.
Plastic surgeons and their patients say the idea is just plain ugly.
``It makes no sense. Where does it stop -- massages, facials, teeth cleanings?'' asked Karen Wakefield, 51, who has had a nose job, dermabrasion, liposuction, tummy tuck and breast lift -- plus a little Botox here and there.
The Washington state senator who proposed the tax said she has never gone under the knife for beauty, but would not rule it out.
``I, too, look in the mirror and see my mother,'' said Seattle Democrat Karen Keiser, 57. But she thinks cosmetic-surgery patients can afford the state's 6.5 percent sales tax. She wants to earmark the money for poor children's health insurance.
``Anyone who can afford the money for cosmetic procedures, I don't think they would be deterred by a little sales tax,'' Keiser said. ``You pay it on your lipstick.''
The tax would not apply to reconstructive surgery for, say, burn victims or women who have undergone mastectomies.
In September, New Jersey became the first and so far the only state to tax plastic surgery, at 6 percent. The tax is projected to bring in $25 million a year.
In California, the very capital of cosmetic surgery, such procedures are tax-free.
Seattle surgeon Dr. Phil Haeck noted that 86 percent of cosmetic-surgery patients are women.
``This is an unfair tax on women,'' said Haeck, editor of Plastic Surgery News. ``The bulk of the people who have procedures are not financially upper-class women. They've saved hard, and this is about restoring their self-esteem.''
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/10756302.htm?1c
