美國有多個州政府訂下新的稅項, 凡購買整容服務的顧客, 要多繳付虛榮心稅款, New Jersey是第一個向"虛榮心"徵稅的州, 還在討論的包括 Arkansas, Illinois, Tennessee, Texas, Washington 和 New York 州.
整容醫師則組織起來說這樣的稅款是歧視女性的做法, 因為八成以上的整容者為女性... 女性團體則沒有多作回應, 大概因為這是很尷尬的問題, 她們一直以來批評社會以貌取女人, 而這稅款把表面上把"以貌取人" 視為 "虛榮" 來徵稅, 某程度約制這種行為, 但卻又把女性放在虛榮的框架上審視... 在資本主義制度裡, 有誰不虛榮? 買車, 買衣服, 買樓, 買鞋, 買化裝品, 買威而鋼, 都是虛榮的表現, 為什麼要針對女性呢?
若香港徵收類似的稅款, 不知女性團體會怎樣應對...
節錄自Women's e-news
...New Jersey is the first state in the country to levy a "vanity tax," a 6.5 percent surcharge above the cost for cosmetic surgical procedures that include Botox wrinkle treatments, breast implants, nose jobs and tummy tucks.
Six more states--Arkansas, Illinois, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and New York--are currently debating their own versions of this tax. While New York has stopped short of introducing legislation, sponsors in the other states introduced bills in March. Voting in all the states has been stalled.
While some discussion revolves around practical issues--such as how much the tax will bring in and how it can be administered--the tax also generates political heat because it disproportionately affects women.
Many of the state legislatures are poised to bring the issue to a vote after reconvening in the fall and the battle lines have been drawn. Women who don't want to pay the tax and plastic surgeons are on one side; legislators on the other....
Dr. Phillip Haeck, a Seattle plastic surgeon and editor of Plastic Surgery News, has been leading the campaign against the tax in his home state and around the country.
"We cannot have a tax that is carried on the backs of women," said Haeck, who cites a 2003 survey by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons that found that 86 percent of the people who get the taxable procedures are women. "This tax is unfair to women, it violates their privacy, and it's just wrong."...

