Government Healthcare: Botox Let Off, Tanning Salons 10% Tax

Botox was supposed to get taxed… part of the Obamakare arbitrary “vanity tax” but it seems the Botox lobby is strong while the tanning salon lobby isn’t.  As the House and Senate bills get reconciled you can expect more politically-based, arbitrary taxes to come.  The rationale this time?  Botox gets rid of wrinkles… tanning salons “cause” Cancer:

As US senators prepare to vote on the healthcare reform bill today, an unlikely casualty of one of Barack Obama’s keystone policies has now emerged: tanning salons.

A 10 per cent sales tax on salons that use sunbeds was slipped into the bill at the last minute, replacing a tax on cosmetic procedures such as Botox injections, which became known as the “Bo-tax”.

Tanning salon owners were caught off guard and say that it will put them out of business by pinching their lower-income customers who are already hurting from the recession.

“We’re in shock,” said Kathe Ray, owner of Absolute Tan & Spa in Livonia, Michigan. “If this goes in and I lose customers I’m going to have to close my doors.” Business is down 50 per cent from a year ago. Ms Ray has already halved her staff and said the tax would put her on the brink of bankruptcy.

The much-anticipated bill, which will extend medical insurance to 31m uncovered Americans, has been the subject of intense lobbying activity and the estimated 25,000 tanning salons believe they have lost out in that fight. Most acknowledge that they stood little chance against the more powerful medical industry, which successfully reversed the Bo-tax.

“We’re not really backed by politicians and we don’t give a lot to campaigns,” said Rachael Dumm, of Tuscan Tan, in Lancaster, Ohio. “It’s basically a tax against middle-class white Americans.”

Sona Patel, owner of MicroSpa in Orlando, Florida, said that most of her tanning clients were white women and called the tax “racist” and “sexist”.

“I believe it’s a violation of equal protection,” Ms Patel said. “It’s absurd.”

The tanning tax is projected to raise $2.7bn for the US government over 10 years. Jim Manley, a spokesman for Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, told the Financial Times the decision to swap the cosmetic surgery tax with the tanning version was “based on the more compelling health concerns with indoor tanning services”.

International health agencies claim the ultraviolet light used in tanning causes skin cancer, weakens the immune system and can damage the eyes. The tanning industry disputes this and argues that it has been victimised by bad science and powerful lobbyists.

John Overstreet, executive director of the Indoor Tanning Association, said: “The irony is that ultraviolet light at least has proven health benefits where Botox treatments have none.”