Industry Doesn’t Want Medical Device Tax, GOP Freshmen Help

An article in DOTmedNews reports that GOP freshmen are aligning with industry to oppose a 2.3 percent excise tax on the medical device industry set to go into effect January 2013. Industry says it will hurt profits and drive jobs and innovation oversees.

As the deadline gets closer, the opposition is growing louder. Monday, February 6, about 75 Republican freshmen, wrote a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Majority WHIP Kevin McCarthy and Dave Camp in support of HR 436, the Protect Medical Innovation Act of 2011, which repeals the tax.

Here is the Act.

The bill is the creation of Rep. Erik Paulsen from Minnesota, a hub of the medical device industry including Medtronic and St. Jude Medical. There are 228 co-sponsors and the bill is working through committee. The letter says “As the vast majority of Republican freshmen in the 112th Congress, we believe this is exactly the kind of bill we were elected to pass.”

The IRS plans to implement to tax which is expected to provide $20 billion over 10 years. It’s part of the Affordable Care Act to help pay for the cost of providing millions of new Americans with insurance. The 2.3 percent is a compromise from an earlier version of the proposal.

Eyeglasses, hearing aids and other consumer products as well as veterinary products are excluded from the tax.

AdvaMed, the lobbying group for the medical device industry, calls the tax am “anti-competitive, job-killing tax.”

The IRS will accept public comment until May 7 and a public hearing is scheduled for May 16. #

Rep. Paulsen's Facebook wall:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Congressman-Erik-Paulsen/128558293848160?sk=wall

Submit comment to IRS by mail

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-10-89.pdf

Or by Comments@irscounsel.treas.gov. add “Notice 2010-89” in the subject line of the email.