Perpetually russet-colored House Rethug leader John "Boner" Boehner is hopping mad. Mad about slow economic growth? Mad about the course of the war in Afghanistan? Noooo. It's something that's really gotten under his skin. It's the so-called 10 percent "tanning tax" on indoor tanning beds that was included in the recent health care legislation. Talk about getting burned!
Of course, as this Think Progress piece notes, the American Association for Cancer Research says that people who use tanning beds are 74% more likely to develop melanoma. The point of the tax is to offset the costs of treating skin cancer, much in the way cigarette and alcohol taxes help to pay for research and treatment of lung cancer, heart disease, etc. Of course Boner, as a Congressman, has access to the best, most affordable menu of health care services, thanks to the Federal Employee Health Benefits program, the kind of care he wanted to deny his constituents by voting against the Affordable Care Act.
