Tanning Tax Takes On Bronze Ideal of Beauty

June 16, 2010 — -- Let's state the obvious, immutable fact.

People hit tanning beds in accordance with a very simple idea: W.P.T.T.L.B.B.

White People Think They Look Better Brown.

It's an idea so deeply embedded in our culture that nothing can change it.

Except, perhaps, a new tax -- a tax on tanning.

Kris Hart owns a tanning salon in Washington, D.C. Don't even get him started on the federal tanning tax that kicks in this summer.

"Honestly, I think the tax was just something that was thrown in because they're trying to find a back-door way to tax middle-class Americans," said Hart.

"Do I take it as a direct personal assault on this business? No, I don't look at it that way. I look at it as a tax on small business owners, as a tax on consumers. It's a tax on Americans."

Well every tax is a tax on Americans. But if you're Hart, whose thriving business is near George Washington University, a the new 10 percent tax is a direct threat.

"What am I going to do about the tax?" Hart asked. "I'm going to pass it on to my customers. And what's going to happen? I'm going to have less customers."

That's exactly what many supporters of the tanning tax want: less action on the tanning beds -- a lot less.

"I think the tax is a wonderful thing," said Dr. Deborah Sarnoff, a dermatologist and senior vice president of The Skin Cancer Foundation. "If I had my way, absolutely I would outlaw them."

Sarnoff wants Americans to give up tanning beds and, while they're at it, to give up tanning in sunlight too.

"We're really trying to get the message out there that tanning is so over," said Sarnoff.