A new Government Accounting Office (GAO) report, designed to shed light on what effect the medical device tax will have on the industry in the future, might have done a better job of taking us under the industry’s financial hood.

The GAO, the nonpartisan counting-house arm of the federal government, is often called upon by lawmakers to assess the financial impact or cost of compliance for potential regulations and taxes. These folks at GAO are mostly career bureaucrats. On top of that, they’re mostly career accountants. In other words, they aren’t known for cooking the books to benefit either side.

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