Tax deduction for sex change? Ruling could set precedent The Associated Press
BOSTON — After a tormented existence as a father, a husband, a Coast Guardsman and a construction worker, a 57-year-old suburban Boston man underwent a sexchange operation. Then she wrote off the $25,000 in medical expenses on her taxes. But the IRS disallowed the deduction — ruling the procedure was cosmetic, not a medical necessity — in a potentially precedentsetting dispute now before the U.S. Tax Court. Rhiannon O’Donnabhain is suing the IRS in a case advocates for the transgendered are hoping will force the tax agency to treat sex-change operations the same as appendectomies, heart bypasses and other deductible medical procedures. The case is set to go to trial July 24. An estimated 1,600 to 2,000 people a year undergo sex-change surgery in the United States, according to the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association. O’Donnabhain said she could have paid back the approximately $5,000 she received in her tax refund, but decided to challenge the IRS because she believes the ruling against her was rooted in politics and prejudice. “This goes way beyond money,” O’Donnabhain said in an interview with The Associated Press. “If I were to give the money back, it would be saying it’s OK for you to do this to me. It is not OK for them to do this to me or anyone like me.” The U.S. Tax Court has never issued an opinion in a similar case, said Jennifer Levi, an attorney with Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, the Boston-based legal organization representing O’Donnabhain. But the IRS has ruled against allowing the deduction in at least one other case. In a 2005 case, the IRS ruled the costs of a woman’s gender reassignment surgery and related treatments were not deductible as medical expenses. The IRS cited the section of the tax code that says cosmetic surgery or similar procedures are deductible only when they are needed to improve a congenital abnormality, an accident or trauma or a disfi guring disease.
The IRS cited the section of the tax code that says cosmetic surgery or similar procedures are deductible only when they are needed to improve a congenital abnormality, an accident or trauma or a disfiguring disease.
And that is the law!!! I mean come on....are our tax dollars suppose to go to people who don't know whether they should be a male or female? Then they should give people a tax break if they don't know if they want to be blonde or brunette. Heck...if anyone would have a tax deduction coming it should be Michael Jackson. I mean how many transformations did he go through? Is he white or black? Is his noise pointed or rounded? Is his lips full or thin? Does he have rounded cheeks or high cheek bones? And finally...the mystery...IS he male or female??????
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Not if they pass a new law to NOT make it forgery! And they seem to be making new nonsense laws everyday!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
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