continued here:'Tanning Tax' in Health Care Law Has Patrons, Industry Burning
Indoor Tanning Industry Calls 10 Percent Tax 'Absurd and Unfair'
Tan-a-holics, prepare to be singed. Uncle Sam will begin collecting a 10 percent tax on all indoor tanning sessions starting July 1, as part of a little-known provision in the new health care reform law.
"That's a pretty big chunk," said James Sims, 28, an avid indoor tanner in New York, who typically spends about $400 a year on a package of 10-minute tanning sessions.
"I'd never buy a plan like that now. I'm already nickel and dimed on stuff," and with growing health worries, it's just not worth it, he told ABC News.
Sims, one of an estimated 28 million Americans to lie under indoor ultraviolet rays each year, said the so-called "tanning tax" caught him by surprise.
The measure is buried on page 902 of the 906-page health reform bill and was added in late December after lawmakers removed the "Botax" on elective cosmetic procedures, such as Botox and breast implants.
The measure also has members of the body-bronzing industry fuming.
"If you're going to tax us, you should tax the travel industry and cruise industry, which also profit from sun worshippers," said Don Feltham, chief financial officer of JK Products and Services in Jonesboro, Ark., the world's largest manufacturer of indoor tanning equipment.
Feltham said the new tax would likely hurt profits at thousands of small independent tanning salons across the country, already under pressure from the recession.
Industry leaders fear consumers may cut back on the number of sessions they buy because of the higher cost, which in turn would hinder expansion of salons and financially imperil others. It might also encourage would-be new salon entrepreneurs to stay out of the business.
"I find it absurd," said Jerry Deveney, author of "Sun Business" and longtime sales manager at JK Products, of the tax. "We don't mind paying a tax on our industry, but it should be fair across all of the cosmetic industry."
won't someone think of the tanning bed smokers!!!??good. All of you that are for the egregious taxing of tobacco are getting what you deserve....
Good. All of you that are for the egregious taxing of tobacco are getting what you deserve....
That's the main thing I don't like about government having a larger role in health care. Once you start shifting the costs to them, there's a lot more incentive to regulate behavior and lifestyles in the name of saving money. That's when you start getting taxes on soda, tanning, stuff like that.The mentality behind this tax is insidious and somewhat disturbing. The government is deciding what I need and do not need and imposing a tax to nudge me in the "right" direction. Even if the tax is just a bare-faced way to put some money into the government-run health care deal they still are making a judgment call that they have no right to make.
That's the main thing I don't like about government having a larger role in health care. Once you start shifting the costs to them, there's a lot more incentive to regulate behavior and lifestyles in the name of saving money. That's when you start getting taxes on soda, tanning, stuff like that.
Tax them. Fake tans are ugly anyway. And they should be illegal for minors.
The mentality behind this tax is insidious and somewhat disturbing. The government is deciding what I need and do not need and imposing a tax to nudge me in the "right" direction. Even if the tax is just a bare-faced way to put some money into the government-run health care deal they still are making a judgment call that they have no right to make.
That's the main thing I don't like about government having a larger role in health care. Once you start shifting the costs to them, there's a lot more incentive to regulate behavior and lifestyles in the name of saving money. That's when you start getting taxes on soda, tanning, stuff like that.
The Fast Food Tax is coming. A 5% federal tax on any order from a fast food outlet, shopping mall food court, movie theater, bar, gas station or convenient store. Boy, I bet that would raise some money and not deter lifestyles.
I'm really surprised the "Botax" didn't make it yet.
Why should taxpayers/people in your insurance pool pay for dumb blondes' skin cancer treatment bills after they deliberately destory their skin to "look good"?
If it was in there, THEN removed, someone got a nice payout from a lobbyist. We could be looking at Pelosi's new yacht behind that little manuever.
I'm really surprised the "Botax" didn't make it yet.
"The measure is buried on page 902 of the 906-page health reform bill and was added in late December after lawmakers removed the "Botax" on elective cosmetic procedures, such as Botox and breast implants."
won't someone think of the tanning bed smokers!!!??
I'm really surprised the "Botax" didn't make it yet.
"The measure is buried on page 902 of the 906-page health reform bill and was added in late December after lawmakers removed the "Botax" on elective cosmetic procedures, such as Botox and breast implants."
lol hilarious
oh noes teh boobies!
I agree we shouldn't have this tax. I think we should just raise the prgressive income tax so that revenue can be acquired fairly.