About three-quarters of tanning facility owners say the U.S. Senate’s proposed 10 percent “Tan Tax” would force them to lay off employees or close locations, a SmartTan.com poll conducted in early January revealed.According to the poll:

• 74 percent say the tax would force lay-offs or closures.
• 15 percent say they don’t know.
• Only 11 percent say the tax would not cause contractions in their business.

Smart Tan estimates that up to 1,000 tanning businesses already at the brink due to the recession and as many as 9,000 jobs would be at risk if the tax is enacted as part of Health Care Legislation currently before congress. The U.S. Senate version of the Health Care bill passed with the “Tan Tax” but the U.S. House version of the bill does not include “The Tan Tax.”

Smart Tan members are part of a massive coalition that, to date, has sent an estimated 150,000 letters and post cards to U.S. Senate and House members since late December — an effort that is having an impact. Many members of the tanning community have met with their representatives already. Meeting with your represenatatives and letting them know the tax would cost jobs and close businesses and continuing to encourage friends and supporters to send notices to congress will help the effort.

The final votes on Health Care reform are expected within two weeks.

Smart Tan issued this statement about The Tan Tax: Regardless of your stance on health care reform, a tax on indoor tanning services will hurt more people than it helps, unfairly targets women and women-owned businesses, was proposed with no due-diligence whatsoever and makes no sense at all in this bill. Specifically:

1. This tax unfairly targets lower- and middle-class female consumers with a 10 percent tax, as compared to the “Bo-tax” which would be a 5 percent tax on wealthy consumers.
2. This tax unfairly targets female business owners. An estimated 67 percent of tanning facilities are owned and operated by women.
3. The math does not add up — the proposal overestimates tanning revenues by 40-50 percent. It was poorly studied and will not raise the revenues the government says it needed.
4. This will cost every community in America jobs and tax revenue. In a weak economy, this large, double-digit tax will hurt thousands of small, largely female-owned businesses, forcing many to close and/or lay off employees.
5. Dermatology lobbyists insisted that cosmetic phototherapy procedures in their offices — which use the same equipment as tanning businesses – be exempted from the tax. By targeting indoor tanning salons, they are attempting to drive 1.5 million phototherapy clients back into their businesses.
6. This was a back-room deal. This tax was added into the bill without studying its affect at all when those who sell Botox injections, phototherapy procedures and cosmetic surgery lobbied lawmakers to remove a much-better studied 5 percent tax on cosmetic surgery procedures from the bill — a tax that would have had less of an impact on society and would have raised more revenue to pay for this bill.