Cosmetic & Plastic Surgery

The New Jersey Tax on Plastic Surgery

New Jersey plastic surgeons felt they were being singled out when NJ state passed a law requiring elective plastic surgery services to be taxed back in 2004. No other state in the United States allows taxes to be collected for any sort of medical procedure.

The 2004 law was passed to tax cosmetic and plastic surgery in New Jersey as an effort to raise funds in the state. Originally this law was expected to bring in over $25 million in its first year. The tax didn’t quite work as intended and only ended up pulling in about $7 million in tax fees on services provided by NJ plastic surgeons.

Governor John McGreevy signed the bill into law and it sounded somewhat reasonable at the time. The law states that only “certain cosmetic medical procedures that are directed at improving the patient’s appearance and that do not promote the proper function of the body or prevent or treat illness or disease.”

That means you’ll pay tax on purely cosmetic services, but not one surgeries that improve your physical health. So a New Jersey plastic surgeon can perform a rhinoplasty to help you breathe better and you will not pay any taxes on the service. If, however, a New Jersey plastic surgeon performs a breast augmentation for beauty reasons then that service may be subject to the equivalent sales tax.

The law’s text lists a number of elective cosmetic surgery procedures which are subject to the tax. Among those procedures which New Jersey now taxes are any form of cosmetic surgery, cosmetic injections, cosmetic soft tissue fillers, hair transplants, dermabrasion and chemical peels, laser hair removal, laser skin resurfacing, laser treatment of leg veins, sclerotherapy, and cosmetic dentistry.

This tax supposedly marked the first time that a tax had been imposed on any medical operation in the United States. New Jersey plastic surgeons were obviously not happy about this and many complained that this tax would continue forcing people to go to other states for their medical needs. Many plastic and cosmetic surgeons in New Jersey spoke out in the news media when the tax was first introduced.

While this is a only a New Jersey phenomenon so far, it has piqued the interest of lawmakers in other states. States such as Texas, Illinois, Washington, Arkansas, Tennessee and New York have all introduced bills to tax certain cosmetic surgery procedures, but so far none of the new laws have passed.

The original sponsor of the bill, Joseph Cryan, has since tried to get the law repealed, but the repeal has not yet received enough votes.

Only time will tell if the tax will be repealed or stay on the books in the future. For now NJ cosmetic and plastic surgeons are dealing with this tax the best they can.

About the Author

The New Jersey Plastic Surgeon Site is dedicated to helping people find, choose and work with the best New Jersey plastic surgeon for them.

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How To Find A Plastic Surgeon

In the United States you have many options available to you if you wish to have any sort of cosmetic or plastic surgery operating performed. You should not simply pick the first plastic surgeon you meet and dive into a costly and personal procedure without doing some research.

You’ll probably want to put together a list of plastic surgeons to choose from and then meet with each one personally at some point, even if that means driving around for a couple of days and doing some serious research. The more time you spend researching your decision before your procedure, the less time you’ll spend regretting it later.

There are many different ways to find a plastic surgeon but here are some more useful ways of finding a surgeon you can trust and work with:

Ask your current medical professionals: Whether you’re at the hospital or just visiting your doctor, people in the medical professional stay in communication with each other and often share patients. They can often recommend people from outside their own expertise area. Many doctors around will gladly recommend a plastic surgeon they have heard good things about.

Ask other plastic surgeons about specialists: Some people who choose to have cosmetic surgery of one type or another often later to choose to have another type later one. Perhaps someone choose to have rhinoplasty first and then a year later decides she would like to look into breast augmentation. An obvious person to ask about about a referral would be the plastic surgeon who performed her nose job. Sometimes the same practice will have multiple cosmetic surgeons who specialize in different parts of the body.

Ask former patients and clients of plastic surgeons: All plastic surgeons benefit from having happy clients who spread the word about their business, so if you know someone who has had a procedure similar to the one you are looking at, ask the person if he or she was happy with his plastic surgeon.

Ask a local hospital about plastic surgeons they recomment: Many plastic surgeons work out of local hospitals and most hospitals have a reference telephone number or website you can use to see which plastic surgeons work there. Most hospitals are very strict about making sure the doctors working in them are qualified and competent.

Remember, these methods are simply a good way to initially find a list of qualified plastic surgeons for your procedure. You’ll still want to meet and work with each doctor before you make a life-changing decision. Take your time, do your research, check references and, most important of all, trust yourself to make the right decision!

About the Author

The New Jersey Plastic Surgeon Site is dedicated to helping people find, choose and work with the best New Jersey plastic surgeon for them.

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