Sympathy for Tanning Salons?

We tax a lot of good things in this country: income, savings, investments, profits. So I have limited sympathy for the 10 percent surcharge on the use of ultraviolet indoor tanning beds. They're cancer beds, and I'm not particularly moved by the argument "Yes, but they're cancer beds owned by small businesses. Small businesses!"

According to the Indoor Tanning Association, an industry trade group, most of the nation's 19,000 tanning salons are small businesses that are owned and staffed by women. Shortnacy said all but two of his several dozen employees are women. With business so slow, he opted against hiring the 10 to 15 seasonal workers he normally adds during the spring high season.

Even the Arlington salon, Shortnacy's most successful location because of its proximity to sun-deprived Pentagon workers and Northern Virginia mall shoppers, is suffering. Appointments have dropped from 300 per day, to about 160.

Read the full story, inside, at the Washington Post.