With summer quickly approaching, some college students are hitting the tanning beds for that bronze, summer glow. But starting July 1, that glow will come at an added cost.

A 10 percent tax on tanning was placed in the federal health care bill instead of the originally proposed 5 percent “botax,” which would have taxed cosmetic surgeries. The Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation estimated the tax to bring in $2.7 billion dollars over the next decade — an amount local salon owners say is way too high. Salon owners don’t expect the law to drastically damage their businesses, but some view it as a discriminatory policy.

Pam Scott, owner of Endless Summer Tan in Lawrence, Kan., said the tanning industry will not bring in anywhere near that amount of money.

“It doesn’t make sense to me,” Scott said. “The industry will just not make that much revenue like the government says they’re going to.”

Now that President Barack Obama has signed the health care bill into law, the tan tax will affect all tanning salons nationwide. Katie Beatty, a U. Kansas senior, said the tax won’t do much damage to her pocketbook because she doesn’t tan often. She’ll still pay to go tanning when she feels it’s necessary.

“I will probably buy another package come next January or February when I am too white,” she said. “But I consider the tax like any other tax on products that are unhealthy for society, like cigarettes.”

The tan tax has been compared to other sin taxes because of some harmful effects the ultraviolet rays can have on the body. Indoor tanning has been linked to skin cancer such as melanoma, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation’s website.

The passing of the tax has surprised salon owners. Kristi Lawrence, owner of Mango Tan in Lawrence, Kan., said she didn’t know how the tax would even work. It’s unclear as of now where the money will be sent and what responsibilities owners will have in collecting and delivering the 10 percent tax to the government.

“I am surprised because it’s such a huge number,” Lawrence said. “It would make more sense to give us more time to figure out how to do this on both the business side and the government side.”

Scott and Lawrence said that they agreed the majority of their clients are young, white women. Lawrence said the tax was too high and targeted too narrow a group.

“10 percent is a ludicrous amount of money,” Lawrence said. “It targets white women aged 18 to 35 and says, ‘hey, these people need to pay for health care.’ It’s discriminatory,” Lawrence said.

Lawrence and Scott both contacted their lobbyists at the Indoor Tanning Association, who have kept them informed with the updates on the tax passing. Lawrence hung flyers in her salon advertising the anti-tan tax website, www.stopthetantax.com, to make her customers aware of the tax and to encourage them to voice their opinions about the matter by contacting their representatives.

Scott and Lawrence are preparing to make changes in order to keep their businesses afloat. Scott said he is telling customers to purchase their tanning packages now before they have to pay the tax on it. Though they expect customers to still pay the tax, owners are waiting to see how consumers will react in July.