St. Paul, Minn. — A Minnesota legislator is spearheading an effort to extend the state’s 6.5 percent sales tax to include cosmetic surgery and procedures such as chemical peels, laser hair removal, cosmetic injections and vascular treatments.
According to a recent Chicago Sun-Times story, Minnesota State Rep. Phyllis Kahn, a Minneapolis Democrat, wants her state to be the second to tax plastic surgery and other cosmetic procedures. New Jersey is the only state that does so currently.
According to the Sun-Times, Rep. Kahn says her proposal, if passed, would generate about $7 million a year to the state’s coffers. New Jersey collects an estimated $11 million a year through its cosmetic surgery taxes.
New Jersey Gov. John Corzine recently vetoed a bill to repeal his state’s cosmetic surgery tax, which earlier had been passed nearly unanimously by the state legislature. The New Jersey law applies to procedures such as cosmetic surgery and dentistry, hair transplants and laser hair removal but exempts reconstructive procedures.
