Black Sun

Exactly..too many salon owners wasted time and money worrying about it..it is what it is...A TAX...I could never understand the drama this generated. I am surprised it was never there to begin with...and have to wonder not, 'why now', but, 'why never'. The industry should fell elated it escaped it so long.

Everything we do, buy, sell, is taxed...I have been getting a haircut for 65 years,don't EVER remember NOT paying a tax for the service. Did all those barbers that added a tax to the service go out of business?

The mechanic that fixed my car all those years? The food I have been eating since birth..the clothes I wear...
Get the point?

parrot head

^^^^^EXACTLY.

tanu01

It was the fact that it was another tax period. Added during a recession, Added to people all ready short or with no money.

For some people in this economy all they have left to their dignity is there apperance. And all of the sudden the big man wants that too.
People are fed up. They want THE MAN off their backs. I think this past election spoke pretty loud.

Black Sun I have respected every post you have ever made, But I have to ask........ Are you happy about all the taxs you pay on food, gas, even a tax on dying ?

Don Smith

The problem with the Tan Tax wasn't just the 10% that clients had to pay (or the salon had to absorb), it was that was labeled as a "sin tax" on an out-of-control industry that was harming their clients. In addition, since the revenues fell far short of what the derm's led the politicians to believe would be realized ($2.7B), the IRS agents believed that salons were keeping revenue's "off the books" (as stated in The Hill article) and so they adopted a very "hostile" attitude. Now everyone (including IRS and the "duped" politicians) realize that they were sold a lie.

Some salons may have been able to "pass on" (or absorb) the Tan Tax without damage but the overall impact has been - and will continue to be - very damaging to the industry.

You can't put lipstick on this pig and make it pretty!

Black Sun

tanu01 says:

Black Sun I have respected every post you have ever made, But I have to ask........ Are you happy about all the taxs you pay on food, gas, even a tax on dying ?[/quote]
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Thank you for the 'respect'.

To answer your question if I am 'happy' paying taxes, of course not. I am a Libertarian...but short of a revolution in this country (again), and despite years of the Libertarian Party (I really do not want to get political here) trying to do away with taxes and introducing a 'fair tax' into the American system, we are still stuck with it.

If you hate taxes as much as I, and I assume there are many more..do what I do, fight it at the polls...instead of voting for those who talk the talk, but not walk the walk, fight for those who will bring in the change (no pun) politically and legally by passing the laws to do away with taxes.

Last week, I once again, voted for those running who want a 'fair tax' and 'IRS abolishment'..but it is frustrating knowing they only draw in 1-2% of votes every election. YET , everybody wants to complain every time the cash register 'rings'

Don't bit*h about it, do something about it...take it to 'the streets' with a revolution by voting for those who think like you, not talk like you

peach

These are the stats: before the tanning tax, there were 160,000 people employed in the US Tanning industry. Today, there are less than 100,000. I'll let you draw your own conclusions.....

Black Sun

Interesting 'facts', which is all they are...
Show me how the tan tax was the culprit of such a job loss and damage to the industry...Got the direct correlation you can show?

Salons closed because the public was well educated on the dangers of tanning for many years, that it snowballed into the disintegration of the industry. There were forces pulling at it and tearing it apart way before a tax came along and nobody in the industry had much will to put up the wall of defense.

You had major distributors and equipment suppliers like Sunnebraun, who at the time was a BIG player world-wide, close its doors abruptly over night that employees had no warning..that was around 2004, and the beginning of the domino effect. You had major players downsizing and consolidating to stay alive..like ETS and Sun Industries/Ergo..way before any idea of a tax.

I have been related to this industry, in one form or another, for over 15 years. And like many of the 'veterans' still around, we can all attest that this industry killed itself. It has been slowly dying for 10 years...way before a 10% tax was introduced.

I witnessed, as others here have, major distributors and manufacturers close down abruptly way before the year 2002...11 years before any tax being imposed.

There was never, and still not, a true industry voice looking out for it.

CrystalSS

THIS is the story to follow..I think this is where it is going to tumble..Especially since the Supreme Court took it from the lower court that Reid himself padded...the justices are in angst over this administration overstepping the law of the land repeatedly and this is quite an unusual and rare move by the Supreme Court...which is exactly why the administration is freaking out.

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare...healthcare-law

BTANN

The tax isn't coming out of our pockets. Unless you chose to absorb it. But it sure feels like it coming out of my pocket each time I pay it. The one thing it has done to me is I have been hesitant to raise prices.

After I calculate the end price to clients after adding sales tax and tan tax I fear there may be some sticker shock. But ultimately I just got to do it.

I think our biggest problem will be a minimum wage increase. If it goes over $10 an hour I'll have to raise prices accordingly.

Our sales staff already earn more than that. But bed cleaners don't. And the sales staff that only makes a little more than that will want a proportional raise.

Just how much will customers pay to tan? We're probably going to find out real soon.

Wynwood

The fact that no one has raised prices in the past 5 years means that it is indeed coming out of our pockets.

I'm less bothered by a minimum wage increase. I will deal with this by eliminating bed cleaners as a stand-alone position. It is a task that still must be performed, but it will mean that the younger, unskilled girls we have employed as bed cleaners simply won't have a job at our business. (This is the part of the argument that Democrats deny but can't escape.) The task will then be performed by our consultants, who are already earning far more than $10.10 per hour, who will then do both selling and bed cleaning.

I actually think that increasing the minimum wage may, in theory at least, increase our market because the girl behind the counter at McDonalds will have higher discretionary income to spend on tanning. We'll see.