By Maggie Schiller
The tanning industry has recently become the latest target of government regulation, as a 10 percent sales tax has been administered on all indoor tanning services.
Effective July 1, this initiative is part of the funding for the $940 billion health care overhaul, and is projected to earn $2.7 billion over the next 10 years, as reported by the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation.
Those new tax dollars, though are taking their toll on profits at area salons.
“Has it affected me? You bet it has, a bunch,” said Rocky Sellers, owner of Tropic Tan in Lutz. “High school and college kids that were my regulars, coming in three times a week, I don’t see anymore.”
Originally, this 10 percent “vanity tax” was accompanied by a 5 percent tax on cosmetic surgery. However, after heavy lobbying from the medical and dermatology industries, the “bo-tax” which would have included Botox injections, breast implants among other elective surgeries, was nixed from the plan.
Rebecca Herman, owner of Tan Lines in Wesley Chapel, said the tax is unfair to those working in the industry.
“Everyone is unhappy. It was supposed to be 5 percent, but the cosmetic industry is a billion-dollar industry and they fought against it,” she said. “Many salons are owned by working-class women who are trying to make ends meet.”
According to the guidelines from the IRS, the tax will apply to electronic products designed for tanning that use one or more ultraviolet lamps with wavelengths between 200 and 400 nanometers. Other tanning methods, such as spray tan, will not be subject to the tax.
At Tan Lines, Herman said that one tan in the basic bed costs $8. With the new tax, the price is $8.80. A basic monthly-unlimited package is $45 dollars, with the increase pushing it to the brink of $50, Herman said.
In a statement by the Indoor Tanning Association, it is reported that the tax will jeopardize thousands of jobs at the nations 18,000 tanning salons, as well as the 10 percent of the population that indoor tans.
Sellers said that nearly 60 percent of his clientele cannot afford the extra 10 percent.
“When you are selling a basic $45 a month package, it is now going to become $45, plus 10 percent more,” he said. “My clients range from high school and college kids to retirees in their mid 80s. The tax hits college kids who are trying to pay their tuition and work two jobs and just want to look good and feel good.”
But who are among some of his other patients?
“I’ve got doctors and nurses from the medical field that come in here,” he said. “Yet, that is where we capture the misconstrued facts.”
Along with doctors putting out false information to clients, Sellers said the notion that indoor tanning is unhealthy is not based strictly on scientific research, but influenced by the media pushing the idea into everyone’s head.
“There is an incredible percent of people that don’t know the answer,” he said. “This tanning tax is based on the fact that indoor tanning is not safe and should be penalized.”
As far as the effects on her business, Herman said she is going to have to wait it out.
“We will see overtime. Hopefully it won’t scare anyone away,” she said. “People are more scared of what the media says than the tax.”
However, while tanning salons across the country are outraged, dermatologists anticipate the beginning of the regulation of tanning.
Dr. Sandy Martin, M.D. from the Center For Dermatology and Skin Surgery in Tampa, said that while the concept to dissuade usage of tanning beds is a good one, it is not enough.
“I am not sure if 10 percent tax is enough to dissuade young patients that are eager to appear bronzed,” he said. “The tax is a step in the right direction in trying to cut down tanning. Will it be effective? I am not really sure.”
Martin said the amount of patients he sees that admit to having gone indoor tanning is “frightening.”
Dr. Rick L. Moore of the Watson Clinic Dermatology at Zephyrhills said that according to the questionnaire he hands out to patients, more than 50 percent of female patients admit to having indoor tanned at least once in their life.
Moore said tanning should become better regulated in the future.
“My hope is that the tax will make people stop and think before using a bed,” he said.
For Sellers, banning indoor tanning altogether isn’t the answer. As a sign says on the front counter of his salon – it is about “tanning responsibly.”
“Indoor tanning is completely monitored by certified experts,” he said. “We consult patients for selective lotions and moisturizers, things you don’t have outside that nurture your skin in a nutritious way. Most people don’t understand how lotions work and how to apply them. Our job as consultants is to make sure we are helping people. They aren’t burning in our beds – it doesn’t happen.”
“It couldn’t be more healthy for you to use indoor tanning,” he added.
