The horse-trading that helped win doctors’ support for the health-care overhaul included replacing a proposed 5% tax on Botox treatments and elective cosmetic procedures with a 10% tax on indoor tanning services.
The tanning tax made it into the final law and is supposed to raise $2.7 billion over 10 years. The tanning industry’s trade group has been saying anyone who thinks the revenue target is realistic has been standing out in the sun too long. “It’s almost laughable,” the head of the Indoor Tanning Association told the WSJ in December.
An article in the Hill today walks through the math in more detail, using the association’s estimate that there are about 25,000 tanning-bed salons, including some gyms and nail salons, that would be subject to the tax. On that basis, each tanning business would have to collect $108,000 in taxes over the decade to get to the $2.7 billion revenue estimate, the group says.
Some 30 million Americans currently visit tanning salons at least once a year, according to the group. Based on an estimated cost of $7 per session, those customers would have to make about 3.9 billion visits over the decade to hit the tax target.
The Joint Committee on Taxation, which came up with the $2.7 billion figure, told the Hill it couldn’t divulge the economic models it used for the revenue estimate.
Dermatologists and other backers of the tanning tax, which doesn’t apply to sessions done for medical reasons, say it’s a good idea because it will discourage people from being exposed to added cancer risk.
Correction: This post originally said each tanning business would have to collect $108 million in taxes over the decade to get to the $2.7 billion revenue estimate.
Photo: iStockphoto
from: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wsj/health/feed/~3/_4sQH4YnMzI/
Can anyone check to see if Hell is still hot?
Newsmax reports, “No. 1 cable news host Bill O’Reilly said Tuesday that he will personally write a check to cover $16,500 in legal costs for the father of a fallen U.S. Marine who sued the members of a church who picketed his son’s funeral.”
“On Friday, Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ordered Snyder to pay $16,510 to Fred Phelps, leader of the Westboro Baptist Church, despite the fact that the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case as to whether the protesters are entitled to free speech at the funeral,” the Associated Press reported. “Phelps conducted protests at Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder’s funeral in 2006.”
The two-page decision supplied by attorneys for Albert Snyder of York, Pa., offered no details on how the court came to its decision.
Attorneys also said Snyder is struggling to come up with fees associated with filing a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court.
Story continues below…
The decision adds “insult to injury,” said Sean Summers, one of Snyder’s lawyers.
Tuesday night, O’Reilly declared on his Fox News Channel show, “That is an outrage. I will pay Mr. Snyder’s obligation. I am not going to let this injustice stand.”
O’Reilly added, according to Newsmax, “It’s obvious they were disturbing the peace by disrupting the funeral. They should have been arrested, but our system is so screwed up, so screwed up, that loons are allowed to run wild. Snyder is fighting the good fight, and he is taking his case to the Supreme Court as he should. We are behind him 100 percent.”
A Democratic Underground thread concerning O’Reilly’s gesture is full of almost nothing but praise, unlike most discussions on the controversial Fox host that can normally be found there.
“I still hate the guy but gotta give credit when it’s due,” a DU reader named “no limit” writes.
Buff2 writes, “I am shocked. O’Reilly doing something good for a change? I do agree with him that it’s an outrage what they are doing to that marine’s family. It wasn’t enough that they lost their son and had to endure insults during his funeral and then expect the father to pay for those evil bastards legal fees? That is the most despicable thing I have ever heard. Unbelievable.”
47of74 isn’t completely forgiving, rhetorically asking, “What does Bill-O want for this, a medal?”
He did good here picking up the tab for the Marine’s family.
However, in my book Bill-O is still a cheap, lying, no-good, rotten, four-flushing, low-life, snake-licking, dirt-eating, inbred, overstuffed, ignorant, blood-sucking, dog-kissing, brainless, dickless, hopeless, heartless, fat-ass, bug-eyed, stiff-legged, spotty-lipped, worm-headed sack of bullshit! Hallelujah! Holy shit! Where’s the Tylenol?
“Oh noes, Billo’s compassion is showing…,” Paulie mocks. “Next thing you know he’ll be moving to MSNBC…”
A shocked Zoeisright wrote, “What? What? What?”
“Is this opposite world?” Zoeisright continued. “The cognitive dissonance is just about blowing my brain wide open. Good for him. That’s the first time I have EVER said that about that man.”
Tomorrow, most likely, Democratic Underground will return to its normally scheduled “O’Reilly sucks” programming.
from: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rawstory/gKpz/~3/dkpN9nqq0Gk/
