ST. PAUL, Minn. – Getting the perfect lips or nose might cost you extra here if the legislature passes a new bill.
State Rep. Phyllis Kahn is pushing to extend Minnesota’s 6.5 percent sales tax to include cosmetic surgery and appearance-enhancing procedures including chemical skin peels, laser hair removal, cosmetic injections and spider vein treatments.
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.
New Jersey is the only state that taxes cosmetic surgery, collecting an estimated $11 million this year. Kahn said her proposal would raise about $7 million a year.
Most of that money would come from the bank accounts of hardworking women, said Dr. Richard D’Amico, president-elect of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. He said 90 percent of plastic surgery patients are female, with annual incomes averaging about $60,000.
“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.
