Tanning Salons Turn Pale Over 10% Tax And Bo-Tax Smoothed Away

Tanning tax versus Botox tax.

In the end, it shapes up like this for the Senate's sweeping health care reform bill that was passed on Christmas Eve:

Americans would continue to get cosmetic procedures like Botox and plastic surgery tax-free. Remember there was a proposed 5% Bo-Tax just a few weeks ago? Well, that was axed in the final stretch of the health care debate, but instead, tanning salons were thrown under the bus with a 10% tax on indoor tanning.

Tanning salons, all 20,000 of them located across the United States, are fuming, and rightly so. The tax would be a financial hardship on such a tiny industry. As Dan Humiston of the Indoor Tanning Association remarked, "We don't have the war chest...the medical industry has. We're somebody who won't fight back because we're too small."

And the business owner was correct, because the Allergan makers of Botox and the American Medical Association made a huge and successful $1 million lobbying effort in recent weeks, to have the Bo-Tax smoothed away, like Botox does instantly to wrinkles. And in its place, burned the tanning industry hard in the behind.

The tanning tax would start in July. And estimates show that such a tax would raise some $2.7 billion over 10 years.

Why would Botox, cosmetic and plastic surgery, and tanning salons even be considered taxable? And why include these mainly female procedures in a health care bill? The way we understand it, to help lawmakers look for ways to pay for expanding coverage.

But Allergan spokeswoman Caroline Van Hove says the Bo-Tax was discriminatory against women and that it really had zero to do with health care reform and costs:

"These are elective procedures that middle-class women are paying for out of their own pockets."

And why pick on the tiny tanning salons? Senate Democrats tried to justify the tax by claiming studies link tanning bed use to skin cancer and other health risks.

So, if you want to get your golden glow on, it looks like it will cost you a little more. Meantime, the Senate health care package now moves into the next phase of the complicated process. The legislation must be reconciled with a separate House measure approved last month. And the big difference between the two bills is funding.

Happy New Year, Botox! You just escaped a couple of hard, painful jabs right between the eyes, so to speak.