Tanning industry in Nebraska burned over new tax, say customers already staying out of salons

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Tanning industry in Neb. burned over new tax

LINCOLN, Neb. — Red in the face over a new tax that is part of the federal health care bill, about 150 tanning salon owners, workers and customers protested at the Capitol on Thursday, the day the tax went into effect.

Some workers said their bosses had already hinted that they might lose their jobs because of a drop in business the new 10 percent tax on tanning bed use might cause. A slightly tanned Gov. Dave Heineman used the event to blast the overall health care bill and the tanning tax while another politician used it, in part, to make a public admission.

“I am Ken Schilz and I do tan!” the state senator and cattle feeder from Ogallala announced to the crowd. Schilz did not say whether his rich bronze skin tone was the result of a tanning salon.

The tax is expected to add 90 cents to a few dollars to the cost of a single tanning-bed session and raise about $2.7 billion nationally to help expand health coverage to uninsured Americans over the next decade.

The tanning tax wasn’t in early versions of the health care bill and was added after dermatologists persuaded powerful senators to substitute it for a proposed tax on cosmetic surgery.

Speakers on Thursday criticized that decision and said assertions that tanning beds cause skin cancer are misleading. Tanning salons give people controlled dosages of rays that create “base tans” which help prevent sunburns that are a sign of UV-ray overexposure and can lead to health problems, said Joe Levy, vice president of International Smart Tan Network, an industry association.

“It is time to stop oversimplifying the case about UV exposure,” Levy said.

But advisers to the Food and Drug Administration recommended tighter controls on artificial tanning early this year, ranging from requiring parental consent forms to banning use by younger teens. Last summer, the World Health Organization listed tanning beds as confirmed cancer-causers, particularly for teens and young adults.

There are an estimated 220 tanning salons in Nebraska and 1,000 people who work in them.

Omaha tanning salon workers Corrine Orth and Sadie Schantz attended the protest Thursday and said they normally get just two or three cancellations a day from customers scheduled to use tanning beds. On Wednesday, 30 people called to cancel scheduled tanning sessions, Orth said, and at least 15 did so on Monday.