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Proposed tax on cosmetic surgery creates conflict
A proposed tax against cosmetic surgeries has Irvine based Allergan Inc., maker of wrinkle-smoother Botox cosmetic and other businesses lobbying relentlessly against it. The tax is supposed to help pay for health care reform.
A $1 trillion reform proposal is being introduced this week by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. which will last up to a decade. The shocking provision is a 5% tax on elective cosmetic surgeries and procedures such as liposuction, cosmetic breast implants, face lifts and botox injections.
The justification is that money is needed to make the bill work. The so-called “Botax,” is estimated to raise $6 billion if lawmakers pass it. A spokesman for Reid has stated this fact.
Allergan and others, even opponents Johnson & Johnson are lobbying against the proposed tax.
“It is not meant to resolve any problem, only to punish us and the cosmetic industry happens to be an easy target,” the spokeswoman for Allegran, Caroline Van Hove said in an article that appeared on Minyanville, an investor web site.
Taxing cosmetic procedures “is unnecessarily punishing on individuals who have just decided to improve their body,” Van Hove said.
The article goes on to say that lobbyists and Senate aides in the know about the proposed tax said Allergan, J&J and others in the industry have persuaded lawmakers to cut it down from 10% to 5%.
The health care reform efforts have not only the cosmetic surgery industry as its victim, medical device makers too are a target and they have succeeded in getting a proposed $40 billion tax on their revenue cut in half by lawmakers.