As expected, the $758 million tax package introduced Monday by House Democrats was passed out of the House Finance Committee this afternoon on a 6-3 party-line vote.

Committee Chairman Ross Hunter, D-Medina, said he expects the plan to get a floor vote later this week. 

“This is not a normal time,” Hunter said. “This is hopefully a once-in-a-century experience.”

Lawmakers heard two hours of opposing views before reaching their decision.

The third revenue proposal is aimed at bridging the state’s $2.8 million and saving social services. The plan would lift sales tax exemptions from goods like bottled water, candy and gum and services like elective cosmetic surgery and close tax loopholes. It also calls for an increase in the cigarette tax by $1 per package and also taxing other tobacco products.

Public health and education advocates testified in favor of the plan, while some small business owners said it would hurt their businesses and force them to lay off employees.

A plastic surgeon said that working women make up the vast majority of his clientele and would thus be unfairly targeted if forced to pay a sales tax for their elective procedures.

“This is a discriminatory tax against working women,” said Dr. Will Portuese of the Seattle Facial Plastic Surgery Center.

It would be difficult to distinguish between elective and non-elective surgeries, Portuese said. For a 45-year-old customer, eyelid surgery might be considered cosmetic, but for a 65-year-old, the same procedure is “vision-related,” he said.

In an emotional testimony, Stacy Thrasher, owner of Kristin Pipe Company, said she’d be forced to lay off employees under the tax plan.

“It sickens me that I had to drive here today so you can decide my fate.”