Tattoo Tax possible in California

Democrats in Legislature target Sure Moneymaker

(GNN) Sacramento - As California's fiscal crisis deepens, despite desperate efforts by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature, the state's politicians are casting about for ways to relieve the financial - and political - pressure.

That's why, out of the clear blue, taxing tattoos at an annual rate of $1.50 per marking, has moved to the Capitol's front burner.

The California Teachers Association and other labor unions are pushing this tax on body art, citing an increased number of tattoos in the general population. Tattoos that, in California, have escaped taxation for decades.

The Legislature's majority Democrats already have endorsed an extra $1.00-per-tattoo surcharge for markings above the neck or on the hands. The new taxes, if adopted, are expected to raise at least $2 billion per year.

Any tax on body art, however, would require at least some Republican support because of the constitutional requirement for two-thirds votes on new taxes. So it's not surprising that tattoo parlors and rock stars have been ramping up their opposition, distributing an informational handout explaining that citizens who would be impacted by this tax are individuals who, by lifestyle, reject the concepts of taxation and government control. .

The tattoo industry argues that tattoo taxes would encourage more "intimate and subtle body art" and fail to generate the purported $2 billion in new revenues.

Taxing tattoos or body piercings is politically attractive because polls consistently show it to be one of the few popular proposed levies. However, some critics argue that it's a regressive tax that falls mostly on lower-income consumers, and that tattoo revenues will fade as tattoing declines, making it an unstable source of money.

Californians purchased nearly 0.3 tattoos per capita per year four decades ago, but popularity has now increased to some 302 million tattoos a year in all.

The Mackinac study estimates that 16.8 percent of California's tattoos are hidden on shoulders, breasts, and lower backs, 10.7 percent on genitalia, 8 percent on the face, and 35.5 on the legs or arms.

We should hear a lot more about this in the months ahead as the state's fiscal noose tightens.