Vanity Tax on Cosmetic Procedures is on its Way

A new tax on cosmetic procedures and plastic surgeries, commonly labeled 'Botax', has been proposed by the White House and liberal Senators in congress. Meant to increase public funds for the health care overhaul, this Botax would increase the total cost of 'vanity' procedures by as much as 10%. Plastic surgeons, private healthcare organizations and other members of the medical community are vehemently campaigning against the new tax in Washington, claiming that the economy will be hindered by such a measure.

Many of the men and women who seek cosmetic procedures such as botox, breast augmentation, tummy tucks and facelifts are doing so because they have recently lost their jobs and want to compete with a younger workforce as they try to begin anew. The medical community is in an uproar that this tax is unncessary and cruelly punitive on the people who simply wish to enhance their appearance. The Associated Press reports on the issue here: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jafyZ40UW5DgQHWKDslvPNmACjtwD9C2UML80. The Los Angeles Times has an op-ed piece on the Botax here: http://opinion.latimes.com/opinionla/2009/11/paying-for-healthcare-reform-with-a-botax.html.

The lawmakers proposing this Botax may think they are stealing from the rich to give to the poor, but the fact is that most women who undergo such cosmetic procedures have modest incomes of 30,000 - 60,000 a year and are seeking such procedures not entirely out of vanity, but to compete with a younger generation of workers. This measure could be hugely detrimental to their ability to find and keep jobs, and thereby damaging to the economy. Even those that are seeking the procedures purely for self-esteem reasons do not deserve to pay more simply because they are taking steps to improve their looks. The Botax is thought by many to be extremely unfair to those who do not deserve it.

In fact, many argue that these people who seek cosmetic procedures are stimulating the economy and the health care system by their patronage and should not be deterred in any way from receiving the procedures they want, at the price they can afford. Healthcare organizations and prominent plastic surgeons are aggressively fighting this Botax proposal in Washington, in hopes that it will not pass into law. Only time will tell if they are successful in their efforts, or if there will be one more tax on the shoulders of the people.