Salon owners feel heat over federal tanning tax

A 10 percent federal tax on indoor tanning, which went into effect July 1, is burning up tanning salon owners.

The tax, part of the Affordable Care Act, will help fund the $940-billion health care overhaul. It is expected to generate $2.7 billion over the next 10 years, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation estimate.

It is also putting the nation's 18,000 tanning salons in jeopardy, according to the Indoor Tanning Association, a Washington-based trade group.

"My customers are frustrated," said Laura Skowronski, who said she spent her life's savings when she purchased her Medford salon, Sunset Beach Tanning, five years ago. "Members in the industry are discussing cutting their hours, laying off workers and downsizing to make up for the loss they expect to see," she said.

Skowronski added that she expects her business to decline but says it is too early to tell by how much.

The tanning tax, which is in addition to state and local taxes, will apply to electronic products that use one or more ultraviolet lamps with wavelengths between 200 and 400 nanometers. Spray tans and lotions will not be included.

A single tanning session at Sunset Beach Tanning lasts from seven to 16 minutes and costs between $8 and $20, depending on the tanning bed. The tax would raise the costs, which are typical of local salons, to $8.80 and $22. "It winds up adding up," Skowronski said. "I think a lot of people will be cutting back."

Arianna Lazos, 18, of Wantagh, said she has been tanning since she was 14 and typically spends about $40 a month on tanning bed sessions. She said she does not believe the tax increase will decrease her visits.

"If I want to tan I will," Lazos said. "The price has been increasing since I started," said the teen, who tans indoors every other day during the winter but decreases her visits during the summer to at least one session per week. "This will just be another increase." Lazos says her tanning expenses would have to exceed $60 per month for her to consider limiting her visits.

Many consumers are opting to go sunless because color from spray tanning develops with just one visit, the unit is UV free and there is no additional tax. It is $25 per session and the tan can last from five to 14 days, Skowronski says.

Salon owners contend the tax - which replaced a 5 percent tax on cosmetic surgery - is unfair and targets middle-class women, the predominant owners, employees and customers of salons. Of the more than 1 million Americans who visit a tanning salon daily, 70 percent are female, says the American Academy of Dermatology.

Most tanning salons are small businesses, many of which have been hit hard by the recession. "The economy hit us hard because we are a luxury service, and when money gets tight, luxuries get cut out of the budget," Skowronski said.