A suggestion by a leading Senate Democrat that the Obama administration is seeking a tax of cosmetic surgery — a “botax” — was met with firm denials Tuesday.
Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-MT, indicated Monday night that the idea of a tax on elective surgery like plastic surgery and hair restoration came from OMB’s Peter Orszag. White House aides say not true, according to Fox News, which originally broke the story.
The idea behind the tax was to raise more money to pay for healthcare reform, which President Obama has said must pay for itself and not add to the deficit.
OMB spokesman Ken Baer and White House Deputy Press Secretary Reid Cherlin told Fox the idea actually came from a Treasury Department official.
Either way, it appears dead for now, according to Fox. Most members of the Finance Committee had not even heard of the idea.
But Fox pointed out that the proposal underlines the difficulty negotiators are having in coming up with a way to pay for $1 trillion in healthcare reform.
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