Best Ridiculous Argument Of The Day
You do not need botox. Botox is a luxury. Botox, and other cosmetic procedures like it that are all about vanity and not about curing diseases or conditions, are the exact sort of thing that we should tax in order to decrease the amount of people without health care in America.
So I got a full-on belly laugh reading this objection to botox taxes from a cosmetic industry flack.
In addition, he said the tax would be especially hurtful in tough economic times that have prompted many newly jobless women to look for ways to make themselves more marketable to prospective employers. He said, ‘They’re competing with people 10 to 15 years younger than them and they want to look better.’
It’s a testament to the art of shilling that someone could make that argument with a straight face. Maybe the botox stopped him from laughing?
5 Responses to “Best Ridiculous Argument Of The Day”
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Just to be annoying, I’ll point out that there are medical applications to Botox. (but cosmetic stuff isn’t one of them of course)
On a serious note, I have a good friend who is a 56 year old professor. His research funding expired 18 months ago. He’s invested wisely and is still working at his university without pay. He’s resolved (in his mind at least) to the fact that he’s to old to get another faculty position.
The PBS series that featured the CCC a couple of weeks ago had an episode about Hoover Dam. They interviewed the secretary to the hiring boss. She told the story of a man who applied for a job. The boss saw his grey hair and told him he was too old. He came back a couple of weeks later with his hair dyed black and was hired.
Assuming they are only taxing botox for cosmetic purposes. This was originally developed for people with neurologic disorders of the face. Tens of thousands of people have spasms of the face and neck so bad that they cannot open their eyes without injections every 2 to 4 months. Or their mouth spasms so much they cannot eat without biting their lips and cheek. They literally cannot function without these injections. The botox already costs them over $800 for the medication price alone, plus doctor’s fees for the procedure. A tax that was passed on to the consumer could really hurt the people depending on this medicine unless insurance companies agreed to pay the luxury tax for the patient. They usually don’t.
The cosmetic uses are obviously in a different catgory. But the widespread use of cosmetics have increased the production and lowered their overall price by something like $400 per bottle by over what it was previously. Somehow they would have to differentiate between the reasons for the medication, which is difficult for a government tax to do. Maybe they could make that work.
I’m A Hick: That’s called age discrimination, and it’s illegal. Which is not to say it doesn’t happen; but the cure for age discrimination isn’t cosmetic surgery or botox; the cure for age discrimination is to enforce the laws that are on the books.
And you’ll note that the cosmetic industry flak directed his comments to women, not men … which tells you a little something about their thinking.