Coming soon: Tax on liposuction

There’s a proposed sex tax, so why not a tax on liposuction as well?

In line with the administration’s move to tax the rich more than the poor, Palawan Rep. Abraham Mitra said cosmetic surgical procedures like liposuction should be levied higher taxes.

This, Mitra said, along with higher taxes on luxury items like sport utility vehicles (SUVs) would send the signal to the poor that the rich will be the first to be taxed by a government scrounging for money.

"Before we ask the tricycle driver to pay an additional P1 per liter tax on gasoline, shouldn’t we first slap a higher tax on a P5-million SUV? Before we ask a farmer to pay a higher tax on his favorite gin, shouldn’t we first remove the tax-free surgical procedure on a society matron who wants to have a J-Lo butt?" he said.

It was Mitra also who had earlier proposed that the government slap higher taxes on motels and inns which he said were enjoying higher occupancy rates than hotels.

Mitra noted that President Arroyo, in her state of the nation address before Congress last Monday, assured the people that the government’s stepped-up tax drive "would be tougher on those who’ve had it easy than those who’ve had it tough already."

He said "objects of conspicuous consumption" like SUVs and "new aquiline noses" should be the first items to be levied a higher tax.

Liposuction and breast augmentation jobs are tax-free because of a new law exempting those who perform these procedures — the doctors — from value-added tax.

But in the case of cosmetic surgery, Mitra said the aesthetic procedure should be differentiated from emergency treatment, because the patient in the latter should not be unduly burdened with the passed-on VAT.

As for body sculpting, face lifts and breast augmentation, he said these should be brought under VAT coverage if the procedures are solely for aesthetics.

In a paper, the Congressional Planning and Budget Office has proposed expanding the list of non-essential goods subject to excise taxes to include antiques.

The House think tank is also batting for the inclusion of "procedures undertaken for aesthetic purposes," a broad definition that could also include tattooing and corrective braces, in the coverage of the new tax.

Buyers of high-end SUVs recently had a new tax cut, courtesy of a newly signed law rationalizing the taxes on motor vehicles, the congressman said.

Mitra was referring to Republic Act 9225 which "commendably" lowered taxes on entry-level sedans but also included high-priced SUVs. He said one Porsche model had a tax cut of as much as P1.7 million.

He proposed an additional five to 10 percent tax on SUVs priced P2 million and above, a move that would make imported SUVs cost more than locally assembled ones.

He sees no resistance to his proposal from "the (BMW) X5 crowd as they can be patriots, too."

"Besides, for a rich man with hundreds of millions of pesos or P1 billion in the bank, paying let’s say an additional P500,000 for his new toy won’t make a dent on his bottomline," Mitra said.

Meanwhile, House majority leader Davao City Rep. Prospero Nograles warned yesterday against unwarranted price increases of commodities and services that would be hit by the new tax measures being proposed by Malacañang to Congress.

Nograles said companies that anticipate bigger taxes because of new tax measures should respond to the President’s call for "those who have more to sacrifice more," as he pointed out that these big businesses have been raking in huge profits through the years.

"These big businesses should respond to President Arroyo’s call for sacrifice to address our deficit problem," Nograles said. "They should not pass the burden of paying additional taxes to our consumers."

He said Congress intends to put in safety nets to ensure that businesses to be hit by the new taxes will not simply pass the burden to consumers.