In a move that’s bound to limit cosmetic surgery even more than it already has been by the current economic problems we face, congress is now considering a new way to help pay for their so called “health overhaul”, which by the way I’m very leery of, in case you can’t already tell by the tone of my writing. They are proposing a possible part of an answer to the shortcomings of how to pay for the multiple new programs for helping get a lot of uninsured Americans health coverage, by taxing cosmetic surgeries and possibly other cosmetic or nonessential procedures that are totally elective.
I’m sure that plastic surgeons aren’t thrilled about this idea, nor are a certain set of actresses, models and other high end socialite types who are addicted to plastic surgery and other cosmetic procedures, but they are seriously thinking of taxing this, which is kind of the equivalent of a “luxury item”, so that they can help to bridge the gap that currently exists and pay for their health care reform ideas.
What really bothers me about them squeezing yet more tax out of people who tend to make more money than average, is that they are not instead looking at the billions of wasted dollars that are spent every year in government spending, but they are looking to further squeeze the nation’s higher paid people, who already pay the majority of the taxes in the US, and who already pay for the shortcomings of multiple other programs.
I just don’t like the idea that if you make more, or if you happen to be able to afford certain items because you’ve worker your butt off for them, you are punished by the government by paying even more than your fair share of taxes. It’s another way that the government really squeezes every nickel out of the higher income brackets, and I suppose I’d just like to see them find more creative ways to pay for their ideas than this.
Not that I plan on doing a whole lot in the plastic surgery department, but to me this just speaks to the problem that America tends to reward mediocrity too much. I’m all for being charitable, and I believe in doing my part to help the less fortunate, but there has to be a line drawn, and I think this extra tax is just another sneaky way of eeking more money out of Americans.
