CHATTANOOGA — The owner of a Chattanooga tanning parlor said a 10 percent federal tax on businesses that use ultraviolet tanning beds will be paid by customers.
Tan-O-Rama owner Brian Henry said the tax that is part of the new health care law goes into effect July 1 and “is going to be passed on.”
Henry told the Chattanooga Times Free Press the tax is “going to hurt a lot of the smaller tanning salons.”
Joyce Land, owner of Sunstar Tan in East Ridge, said the new tax could add to the count of tanning parlors that have already closed because of the recession. She said owners can’t afford to pay it.
The tax does not apply to spray tans or lotions.
The manager of Malibu Tanning Supply, Stephanie Claiborne, said what started as a tax on cosmetic botox injections to help pay for health care turned into a tax on an entire industry.
The newspaper reports that the American Academy of Dermatology Association opposes indoor tanning and supports the tax.
Claiborne said some customers tan for the health benefits.
“We’ve had people tanning for seasonal depression, vitamin D, all that stuff,” she said.
The Indoor Tanning Association agrees. John Overstreet, the association’s executive director, described the tax as a “classic backroom deal.”
“You’ve got a couple very wealthy dermatological associations, they see this ‘botax’ in there, a tax on cosmetic procedures, and three days before Christmas they cut a backroom deal, and they knock their tax provision out and they stick this one in,” he said.
Overstreeet said there are about 17,000 of the businesses with millions of customers “who are now going to have to pay this tax.”
William James, president of the American Academy of Dermatology Association, said there was originally a cosmetic tax in the health care legislation “and that was pulled and replaced with a tanning tax, that’s true.” He said that over time “ultraviolet light damages the skin.”
The newspaper reports that the association not only supports the new tax but also “opposes indoor tanning and supports a ban on the production and sale of indoor tanning equipment for nonmedical purposes,” based on a fact sheet published on the association Web site.
James said edible supplements can easily provide the same Vitamin D benefits as a tanning bed or sunlight, without the risk of melanoma.
“One of the reasons we have this health care reform, we’re trying to have less money spent on preventable disease and have people be healthy,” he said.
At an Ultimate Tan location, owner Mark Kernea said it’s unfair to single out women, who make up 70 percent of his customers base, for wanting to look good.
“Are you going to tax outdoor sunshine? Are you going to tax hotels? Beaches? Resorts?” he said. “They don’t want to talk about how people who don’t get enough sunshine are at higher risk of cancer, or how birth defects are higher in people who don’t get enough sunshine.”
Information from: Chattanooga Times Free Press, http://www.timesfreepress.com
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