Will Tanning Tax Remove Your Glow?
With many still trying to figure out the health reform law, tanning aficionados have their own taxing problem. Effective July 1, 2010, bronzed individuals that frequent tanning salons will meet the health reform law up close and personal.
Taking Off the Tanning Goggles
Included in the law, is a provision for a 10 percent tax for sessions at indoor tanning salons. Estimates from the Joint Commission on Taxation predict a $2.7 billion windfall for the health reform coffers over the next 10 years.
The tax applies to electronic products for tanning that use one or more ultraviolet lamps. Spray tans and tanning lotions are not included in the tax.
The tanning tax has plenty of people hot under the collar.
A Cosmetic Burn?
Originally, the health reform bill included a five percent tax on cosmetic surgery. Coined the botax, the tax included procedures such as Botox injections and breast implants. After intense lobbying by the medical and dermatology industries, Congress removed the botax.
The revenue projections for the botax were $5.8 billion, more than double the estimates on the tanning tax. That raised cries of the wealthy winning out over the little guy – or more specifically – middle-class, primarily women-owned businesses.
A Dark Future?
Tanning salon owners fear the new tax will jeopardize the survival of their businesses. If that is the case, there is the trickle-down effect when an industry loses business. There are the manufacturers of the tanning beds and the makers of the products sold at tanning salons.
Proponents of the tanning tax cite the health risks, such as an increased risk of melanoma, associated with indoor tanning. Melanoma is the most serious form of skin cancer. A recent study published in the Archives of Dermatology estimated an annual cost of $249 million for treating melanoma in the elderly.
Proponents of the tax also argue that deterring this type of tanning will decrease the high cost of treating all forms of skin cancer.
No matter which side of the argument you stand (or lie down) on, the tanning tax rolls out this week.
i-Stock Photo credit Klaus Larsen Photography
