The Democratic leadership decided to remove the 5% plastic surgery tax from the latest draft of their health care reform bill. The tax was expected to generate $5 billion in federal revenue, and to make up for the loss they have replaced it with a 10% tax on indoor tanning services.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the change is a victory for the American Medical Association, which urged lawmakers to remove the cosmetic-surgery tax after Sen. Reid included it in a draft of the bill he unveiled in November. The medical industry argued that the tax effectively discriminated against women, since they’re more likely to undergo such procedures.
