Help Fight the BoTax: Send Your Senator a Letter

 Updated 3/2017--  all links (except to my own posts) removed as many no longer active. and it was easier than checking each one.

I am against the Cosmetic Surgery Tax (or BoTax). I feel it is an unfair tax which will heavily affect women more so than men. It will also affect many more in the middle class than in the wealthy class. I’d like to join the Aesthetic Society and all of organized Plastic Surgery in fighting this unfair tax.

For more on how the tax is a bad idea, check out this article Breast-Enlargement Tax That Failed in Jersey Taints U.S. Plan by Nicole Gaouette over at Bloomberg.com (H/T to Jeff Frentzen, PSP Blog)

”It was a real education,” said Cryan, a Democrat who now wants the levy repealed, in a telephone interview. “We essentially discouraged the business from happening at all.”

Susan Hughes, a Cherry Hill, New Jersey, facial surgeon, said her business dropped by 10 percent when patients began crossing the state line to Pennsylvania. Administering the tax strained relationships with patients, and created extra work and costs for her office, she said.

‘You Idiots’

“We become the tax collector,” Hughes said in a telephone interview. “Now you’re going to repeat that on a national level? You idiots!” Hughes’s office manager, Jaime Castle, said she’s also concerned about layering the taxes, making New Jersey residents pay a combined 11 percent. ………….

The following is the template for a letter that patients can use to express their opinion and dissent toward the proposed cosmetic surgery tax:

Dear Senator ______,

HEALTHCARE PLAN IN THE SENATE WILL UNFAIRLY DISCRIMINATE AGAINST US!

I am writing you today about an issue that affects everyone who utilizes plastic surgery services for anything from Botox to Tummy Tucks.

The healthcare bill approved by the US Senate this weekend, Page 2045 Sec. 9017, Excise Tax on Elective Cosmetic Medical Procedures included in the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

This dense legalese translates to a tax on all cosmetic procedures as partial payment for the healthcare overhaul our current administration is attempting to implement.

The problem is that we would be paying this tax, the FIRST time this country has levied a tax on patients for medical procedures. This Bill is objectionable in many ways, including:

· This is a discriminatory tax. According to the Aesthetic Society Annual Statistics, 91% of all cosmetic procedures are requested by women

· This will not have considerable consequences on the wealthiest patients but, as usual, affects the middle class. We working women, soccer moms, and scores of others who carefully save and budget to improve our appearance and self esteem will be penalized for doing so.

· Procedures such as breast reduction that have been cited in the literature for improving self esteem and quality of life would be taxed as well.

· Our doctor as tax collector: This provision places physicians in the role of tax collector and holds physicians liable should an individual fail or refuse to pay the tax. That is not the relationship we want with our medical provider!

Please, do not allow this portion of the tax bill to pass!

Sincerely,

______________________

You can find your elected representative by clicking here.