As US senators prepare to vote on the healthcare reform bill, an unlikely casualty of one of Barack Obama’s keystone policies has now emerge: tanning salons.
A 10% sales tax on salons that use sunbeds was slipped into the bill at the last minutes, replacing a tax on cosmetic procedures such as Botox injections, which became known as the “Bo-tax”. The tanning tax is projected to raise $2.7bn for the US government over 10 years.
Tanning salon owners were caught off guard and say that it will put them out of business by pinching their lower-income customers who already hurting from the recession. The much-anticipated bill, which will extend medical insurance to 31m uncovered Americans, has been the subject of intense lobbying activity and the estimated 25000 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.
International health agencies claim that 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 victimized by bad science and powerful lobbyists.